Polarity
by Tirsis
Summary: At the Fall of the Silver Millenium a group of refugies arrived from a distant star. Now in our time The legacy of their Senshi is about to unfold.
1. Prolog: The End

Sailor Polaris looked out over the spaceport as the last of the refugees boarded the cruiser. Her eyes were distant and her uniform, once proud and bright, was now covered in ash and blood. The final civilian passed her and went up the ramp, and still she stood, tears staining her face at the thought of those who were lost.

She was one of the last of the heroes that had banded together to defend this world, but they were all gone now. Her friends and comrades had fallen one by one not against a villain or conqueror, but against nature itself as the orbit of Polaris shifted slightly towards the sun. Volcanoes, tidal waves and dust storms that ravaged entire cities had left only a handful of protectors.

And then, only two.

"Is he coming or not?" the gruff voice of the spaceship captain said behind her as she continued her vigil.

Sailor Polaris sighed, "Doctor Infinity has never failed before. We wait until we can wait no more. I will not abandon another friend."

"Even if it costs us our lives?"

Her head snapped around and she glared hard at the captain, but he did not flinch. Like her, he had seen much destruction over the last few months, and lost many friends of his own. Now he was only reminding her of her duty, to protect the people of this world, no matter what.

With a weary look into the distance Polaris saw that the lava flows had moved to consume the entire city and the spaceport would soon fall as well. No more time could be spared if she wanted to get the last of her people away from this nightmare.

"Let's go," she said with a heavy voice and moved to join the old space pilot, and the metal ramp lifted up behind them, locking into place with a final, heart dulling, thud.

Polaris, home world of over two billion people and a civilization that dared to dream of the stars, was now alone in the night.

And the last ship left the burning world, searching for a new home.

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 1

Prolog: The End

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

Polaris was weary, but she still held her head up with a warrior's pride as she stood before Queen Serenity. It had taken the refugee ship containing her and the thousand or so survivors three years to reach this inhabitable system, and now she stood before its ruler as the guardian of her people and their representative.

Queen Serenity looked down at the girl before her and saw the great distance etched into her eyes. Her outward appearance was clean and crisp, her white hair fluffed and pulled back into a single long braid. Her Uniform a clean white leotard with armor plates over her chest and hips that looked to be made of light brushed copper. Her white boots reaching her knee and sporting the same copper in the form of shin guards. Her white gloves and metal armguards completed a unified ensemble. The gold circlet on her head adorned with a blue inlay of a circle with a line through it.

Never the less, this girl was tired down to her bones. And it didn't take a great ruler to tell that.

"What happened to your leaders?" Queen Serenity asked the haggard looking young woman in a soft voice.

Sailor Polaris knew the question was coming, but it still hurt her inside as she answered, "The Triumvirate Council gave themselves in sacrifice so that three more civilians could board the escape craft. I would have joined them myself, but they forbade me and commanded that I see our people to safety."

Serenity took this in and answered gently, "They took their role as protectors of the people very seriously, didn't they?"

Polaris nodded and continued in a stronger voice, "On their behalf, and on behalf of the people of Polaris, I formally request sanctuary from your realm. As payment for your generosity I offer my services as a warrior and soldier to your throne."

Serenity stood and descended from the raised dais coming close to the young guardian. She looked into the crystal blue eyes of the girl and saw an emotional wall held in place by shear will. Behind it were pain and regret in volumes that would drown lesser people, but this proud warrior persevered.

With a gesture, the lesser nobles and other court goers were quickly dismissed and soon only Serenity, Sailor Polaris, and the current guard detail of Sailor Venus and Sailor Neptune remained.

Once the door closed Serenity swept the younger woman into a hug, holding her tightly.

"Your journey is over," she whispered in the girl's ear. She felt a shudder and heard a sigh. Then it began as the girl began to cry, long and hard into Serenity's shoulder. As the Queen gently lowered them to their knees so the girl could continue releasing the burden, Venus and Neptune glanced at each other and shared a smile.

Venus officially led the Inner Senshi, and there had been many times where the pressure of guiding the Queen's Hand through diplomacy, conflict, and battle had put pressure on the young blond. She had also hidden her feelings, and the Queen had always seen right through her and lent her shoulder in times of need.

Neptune was part of the Outer Senshi, the Queen's Fist, and sometimes the harsh missions that the group was sent on chafed at the young artist. Her soul wished to be free and whimsical, but her destiny remained that of a warrior. It was the Queen who had taught her that the two halves of her life could exist in harmony.

Slowly, Polaris finished her crying and sighed into Serenity's shoulder and whispered a thank you loud enough that only the softly smiling monarch could hear it.

**********

"Tell me how this started again," Mars grumbled as she took a seat. The Senshi that were on world had gathered in the arena to see a sparring match between two of their number. It wasn't rare for training, but one of the combatants today was an unknown quantity.

Sailor Polaris had only been with them a few months, and her opponent was one of the toughest fighters in the Queen's Fist.

"Uranus and I were out drinking this afternoon," Sailor Jupiter started as she sat next to her friend and comrade.

Mars sighed, "That's never a good thing."

Jupiter laughed and continued, "Polaris was there, and we got to talking. I asked her about her powers, and she said they were gravity based. Uranus was plowing through her fifth pint and asked what attack spells she had."

"And?"

"None," Jupiter said as she shrugged. "We were gobsmaked, but she went on to say that the Polaris guardians had a long history of fighting prowess. Then Little Miss Macho out there decides to eloquently slur out that Polaris would be useless in a real fight. The rooky got a little upset at that, I think she was three sheets to the wind too, and told her that she could, and I quote, 'beat your skinny little ass from here to Pluto'."

"Oh, is that what got her ire up," Neptune said with a smile in her voice as she sat with them. "And here I thought it was some silly posturing between the two of them."

"One-upmanship amongst the Senshi," Jupiter gasped in mock horror. "Oh the scandal. Oh the shock. Oh…it's Thursday so it figures." Light chuckles came form all of them as they turned their attention back to the arena.

Uranus and Polaris both looked rumpled, and neither of them was very sure on their feet, still suffering from the affects of too much alcohol, but with a burst of energy Uranus was in her uniform, sword in hand and most of her inebriation dispelled by the magic of her transformation.

Polaris however snorted and remained in civilian garb. She half stumbled into a loose stance and made a come-hither motion to her opponent.

Uranus shook off what she knew was going to be a monster of a hangover later and asked, "Aren't you going to take this fight seriously? Transform already."

"Nope, not gonna," Polaris retorted, her eyes swaying almost as much as her body. "Don't always get the luxury in a real fight to stop and cast. Gotta be ready fer anything…hic."

"Your loss," Uranus sighed and charged, going for her favorite overhand slash to end this quickly.

Just before her blade connected, Polaris spun on one foot, moving inside her reach and grasped her sword hand. With a heave, the smaller girl threw Uranus over her shoulder, flat on her back.

Stunned only for an instant, Uranus rolled to her feet and spun, slashing back at Polaris and pumping a small blast out of the Space Sword that would take Polaris right in the chest.

If she were there.

Looking around frantically, Uranus tried to find her opponent, but it wasn't until she heard a happy sounding 'you-ho' from above that she looked up. Twenty feet in the air, Polaris drifted, her braid shifting in the wind as the girl smiled down at the gaping Uranus.

"How did you get up there?"

Polaris laughed at the ground bound Senshi and answered, "I turned down gravity's influence on me, silly. Care to see what happens when I do the opposite?"

With a whooping war cry, Polaris dropped out of the sky like a stone. Uranus was stunned and didn't have time to get out of the way.

The cloud of dust that was kicked up by the impact obscured the field from the audience, who sat wide eyed at the display. But the sound of the impact got a decided reaction from spectators.

"Ouch," Jupiter remarked, "that's going to hurt."

The dust finally cleared showing that Uranus was indeed down, her head only a hair away from Polaris' striking foot. The fact that both of them were at the bottom of a ten foot wide crater was not lost on the spectators and demonstrated just how much power had been behind the kick.

What happened next demonstrated the power of the booze Polaris had consumed.

The girl collapsed on top of Uranus and lazily spoke, "You're cute when you're all panicy and stuff." She then gave the stunned older girl a kiss on the cheek and collapsed bonlessly on top of her, snoring heavily.

Up in the gallery the other Senshi, except one, were laughing loud and hard. Neptune on the other hand was blushing and sputtering incoherently.

"The nerve of that little…humph!"

**********

Sailor Polaris awoke with a hangover. It was an all too frequent sensation with her since her arrival on the Moon. For her it seemed to keep the nightmares of her homeworld's destruction at bay.

Last night had been a little harder. It had been her birthday, and almost a year since the arrival of the Polaris refugees on the Moon. She had been feeling melancholy, and the Senshi had decided to throw her a party. They had to drag her kicking and screaming to it, but she wound up going.

It had been late in the evening, and she had lost count of how many wine barrels they had uncorked, but Venus had finally come to the dubious conclusion that the reason Polaris was so down was that she hadn't been laid in years. Part of this may have been true, but Polaris was convinced that this was not the core of her problem.

"Oh Polly," the inebriated Venus said with a sigh, "All's right in the universe after a little warm cuddly time. Trust me on that."

After that the night was a blur, but now as Polaris opened her eyes she was met with the sight of long blond hair. Marshaling her other senses, she found herself spooned up against someone, arms wrapped around them and hands resting in provocative positions.

Polaris hadn't thought Venus would go this far, but she guessed that nothing was beyond the so called Senshi of Love.

Struggling through the haze in her mind she fought to recall how she had wound up in bed with Venus, but she was drawing a blank towards the end of the night. In her state it must not have taken much for the blond to seduce her, even with her professed indifference to intimate company.

She'd have to pay the little minx back for this.

Her hands began working slowly, and soon quiet hums of pleasure came from the sleeping blond. A wicked smile crossed Polaris' face as she considered the next part of her plan, but that ended quickly with the clearing of a throat.

Looking up she saw the Queen standing in the doorway, looking very cross, and Pluto doing a good job of copying her.

"What exactly," the Queen stated with not a little frost, "Are your intentions towards my daughter?"

That turned off the hangover right quick.

Almost like magic, Polaris had disentangled her arms, shot up, and found herself pressed against the far wall of the room. Her wide eyes darted around and she saw that she was not in her room, or Venus' room. The color, the art, the furniture were all unique to the Princess' quarters. And the long blond hair was in fact the undone locks of her Highness.

"I think I need to quit drinking," Polaris muttered as she contemplated her fate.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, the Princess chose that moment to wake up.

She stretched her arms and yawned loudly, then declared quietly, "I feel fantastic. I wonder if we should have big parties like that more often." She then sat up and smiled brightly, "Good morning, Mother. I hope you slept as well as I did."

Queen Serenity's eye twitched at this, and as she was inching her way towards another door Polaris started to sweat rather a bit more.

It wasn't often that servants in the place saw their Queen moving swiftly through the halls. The few times they had seen it there had been some emergency of state to deal with. But today was calm and there was no great concern to the throne. So they were quite surprised when Sailor Polaris ran past them, legs pumping madly and not a thread of clothing on, followed immediately by a outright sprinting Queen Serenity, dress hem held up in one hand and a broom swinging wildly above her head in the other.

**********

"Hold the line!"

A simple command for the most part. But when a horde of alchemically created demons are charging into the streets of the capitol the extent of the sacrifice needed to carry out the command stretches the bounds of reason.

Sailor Polaris looked around her, surveying the remains of the Royal Guard that she had taken command of. Amaza, the officer in charge was blasting away frantically with her power lance and shouting orders to regroup the last of her people. Among them were many of the refugees from Polaris, though that mattered little to them any more. They were citizens of the Silver Kingdom, and they dusted off their long unused warrior skills and fought bravely against the yoma swarm.

Polaris took hold of a nearby tree and activated her powers. The mass of the tree reduced and she easily ripped it out of the ground and threw it into the enemy line. Its mass instantly returned as it left her and almost a ton of old oak impacted in the yoma vanguard.

Polaris used the lull to run up to the recovering Guard.

"Amaza," she barked, "get your people to the gateway! The demons destroyed the dome generator and the city is losing air! Take the survivors and get off world!"

The young captain stubbornly looked out over the battlefield as the invaders reformed their line. "I won't abandon my post. If the line of Serenity dies here, then I die with it. With honor."

"Honor be damned!" Polaris pulled the Guardswoman into an embrace, "The Queen would never wish for you to give up your life like this, and I won't let you. Get your people to the gate. That is an order."

Amaza took in the white haired girl's eyes and saw the pain there, as well as hard steel.

"What of you?"

Polaris took a deep breath, "The Outers were tricked away by Beryl's attack on Olympus Mons. The Inners are guarding the Queen. I'm going to buy them the time they need to set up a combined attack on that thrice cursed witch."

Amaza nodded gravely and placed her hand over Polaris' heart, "May you find peace in the next dimension."

Polaris mirrored her action, "I place the last of my people in your care. Guide them well." With that she turned and ran towards the enemy, tears streaming from her eyes.

Her charge started out simply enough, but as she ran she began to increase her gravity affect. Her steps went from light with the clicking of her heels on the pavement, to loud as cracks formed where she ran, to thunderous as craters formed a trail where she stepped.

"I've lost one world in my life," she growled as the wind whipped past her and she plowed into the enemy line. "I'll not see another fall."

The yoma formation collapsed as a four foot, ten inch, five ton missile crashed into it. Some of the creatures were simply trampled, others hit by massive punches that destroyed the magic holding them together.

In seconds Polaris was through the front line. She took a breath and turned to face the next group. At their head were four faces she never wanted to see among the enemy, the Four Guardians of the Earth Kingdom. Their faces were twisted into evil smirks and their hands rose towards her, eldritch words forming on their lips.

Sailor Polaris resumed her charge causing the ground to shake as she howled out, "Die traitors!"

Four arks of black lighting intercepted her, arcing across her armor and searing her body with powerful spasms. A scream was torn from her throat as her back arched. Her last clear vision was a pillar of multi colored energy blasting into the sky.

She had held the line.

**********

Sailor Pluto wiped away the last of her tears. It had taken almost a hundred years, but she was finally done crying for her lost friends, her lost home, and her dead Queen.

She knew what was to be done now. It was part of the Queen's plan of last resort, and Pluto would help guide the souls of the Senshi to the future, just as she was commanded.

The Princess was her first priority. She looked deep into the Gates of Time and saw Serenity's heir as part of a loving Tokyo suburbanite family. She had a caring mother, a protective father and an annoying brother. It was so average and unobtrusive that it would be perfect for the princess who was always a touch uncomfortable with the responsibility her position held.

Next were the Inner Senshi, and Pluto was less then delighted at how they arrived in the future. Venus did well enough, but Mercury and Mars both wound up in broken homes. Mars wound up being placed with her kindly, if eccentric, grandfather by her bastard of a father, and Mercury had a good mother, but Doctor Mizuno was a career woman who spent the majority of her time working at the hospital.

Poor Jupiter was the worst though. Pluto almost wished she could interfere and save her parents from the plane crash when the girl was so young.

Damn Temporal Laws of Continuity.

The Outer Senshi were also checked up on, and Pluto found that Neptune and Uranus both did well. She laughed as no matter the life the two of them seemed to find each other.

The Saturn problem was set aside for the moment. No doubt that the decision would come back to haunt her, but Pluto was simply nervous about tempting fate when it came to the most powerful Girl of Mass Destruction in the world.

Finally came Polaris. Pluto had been cautious about welcoming the young warrior into their company, but the Queen opened her arms and heart, and as so often was the case, the Queen was right about the girl. Pluto had grown to respect Polaris as a warrior, a Senshi and a guide for the skilled and proud people that had come to the Moon so long ago.

As she looked into the Gates following Polaris' soul shock crept onto her face. When the girl was reborn to such questionable people she was once more tempted to intervene. Then she saw the changes her comrade had undergone and she spent the next hundred years using every curse word she had ever learned in over a thousand languages.

Polaris had been reborn male.

Spinning time forward and back she found that large chunks of the new boy's life were blocked to her, so she skipped it for the moment and focused on the distant future. She looked for the possibilities of two timelines, one where Polaris was properly awoken, and one without.

With Polaris she found the future changed from what she had scryed so long ago. The crystal skyline of Tokyo was changed, and there were many differences, but nothing was focused and Pluto recognized it as a future in motion, inconsistent at best and confusing at worst.

Without Polaris the future seemed split into two equal possibilities. One was white, clean and pure, but with the echo of loss and unrest. The other was black, where a single dark tower stood atop a world of ash and lava.

The last vision disturbed Pluto greatly, and it didn't take the immortal Lady of Time to figure out why. Aside from the tower, the world had looked exactly as Polaris had described her own in the last days before its death.

Pluto would not let this vision come to pass. She would not interfere with the reborn Polaris for now, but if her options narrowed she would find a way, any way to bring the hero who had given everything for her friends back.

Time be damned, she would not see the world end like that. She would not allow Polaris' sacrifice to be in vain.

The Beginning…

Endnote: Ranma/Sailor Moon stories are plentiful and somewhat overdone, I know. But damn me if I don't enjoy them. The characters are sharp contrasts to each other, the girls looking for love and the boy who can't handle love at all. Throw in the usual problems both stories have and if it's done with care in can be humorous, dramatic, charming, and even romantic. This is my own take, and I hope to do it justice. Hopefully it will be as long as OHWP (but less lemony), so please keep an eye out for more. Much love to the fans, and see you next time.


	2. Lines of Force

"Your life kinda sucks, you know?"

Ranma cast a long look at Hiroshi as he and Daisuke sat down with him at lunch. His two classmates were smirking at him and his expression of misery didn't help to lessen their mirth.

He sighed, "Is there something new or is it the same old crap I usually have to deal with?"

Daisuke answered with a grin, "Nabiki is selling videos of the riot at the wedding."

"Any chance one of you could just kill me now," Ranma deadpanned. "It was bad enough that I had to live through that. Now it's a freaking media franchise."

"She said that next month will be the extended edition with commentary," Hiroshi added, his smile never faltering.

Ranma wanted to cry, or scream, or just run away and hide. But he couldn't do any of that. Part of it was that his shmuk of a father had pounded it into him for the bulk of his life that emotion was a weakness. Part of it was his loon of a mother was still holding a contract over his head, and at the first sign of 'unmanliness' she would lop it off.

His head, that is.

But most of it was the simple fact that he was tired. The fiancées, the rivals, the fiancées, his parents, the fiancées, the lunatic school staff.

Did we mention his fiancées?

Ranma sat quietly while his classmates ate lunch. Slowly he let the chatter die down in his mind, and he drifted into a light nap in a vain attempt to store enough energy to stay awake through class.

It wasn't that he was lazy, or even uninterested in some of the classes. It was a matter of not being able to sleep a full night. Between his father, his fiancée, and his enemies attacking him at all hours he hadn't seen a full nights sleep over a year now, and it was starting to show.

As he napped, his mind spun and Ranma found himself surrounded by mist. He felt it was a dream but didn't fully grasp the idea, as if he were only peripherally aware of it. In an instant the mist lifted away, and Ranma discovered that he was in his female form. This was pushed aside quickly when Ranma realized that she was falling rapidly.

The mist above her had been a cloud, and now she was plummeting towards the Tendo compound, a view she was all too used to thanks to Akane and her temper. She braced herself for impact, but instead passed right through the house. She saw the Tendos, his parents, fiancées, rivals, and hundreds of other people crowded around the living room table where the impossibly large numbers of people were playing a board game.

Risk: Ranma's Life Edition.

Passing through the floor Ranma continued to fall through the sky, dropping towards another place. A dead landscape stretched out below her and she blinked as she saw a pristine road sign that declared 'Welcome to Ranma's Future/Past. Population: zero, nada, nill, they're all dead Jim.'

That got Ranma's attention.

This time when Ranma hit ground level she let out a silent scream as she fell into a lava flow. The painful heat was suddenly replaced by a cold chill as she fell into a single, crystal like light.

A ghostly voice echoed in her head. It was a whisper of her own voice, filled with loss, hope, joy and despair.

"Sorry about this."

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 2

Lines of Force

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

Setsuna didn't really want to open her eyes, but the insistent beeping of her alarm clock dragged her slowly from her slumber. It was one of the few pleasures she had allowed herself over the long years since The Fall, and she was always reluctant to give up a comfortable bed.

Her slender arm snaked out and slapped the snooze button, then slowly drifted over her nightstand to take hold of her PDA that sat within easy reach.

She loved the little gadget, almost as much as post-it notes. When it had come out she had snapped one up and put it to very good use. She charted out the days ahead on it as either Stay Awake days or Sleep In days. Now, if she put effort into thinking in these few moments after the alarm she wouldn't need it.

But who really wants to think that much before the first coffee of the day?

Pulling the handheld computer under the sheets, Setsuna tapped the screen and saw a smiling face with 'Go back to sleep!' written underneath and sighed with joy. Dropping the PDA to the floor she snuggled deeper into her comforter and let herself drift back into slumber.

"Setsuna-mama, you have to see this!"

The voice of young Hotaru called out and ruptured Setsuna's rest. Hearing the girl call out like that was enough to shake the Time Guardian out of bed and charge into the living room of the house she shared with the other Outer Senshi.

What she saw was Hotaru watching TV, and a helicopter view was what looked like a war zone. The text on the screen declared the view to be of the 'Nerima Incident' and the announcer was surprisingly calm about it.

"What you see before you is the remains of a riot that occurred today in the Nerima district. According to eye witnesses a fight broke out at the local high school and spilled out into the streets. The fight gained the attention of several people and seemed to grow rapidly into a riot. The police have reported the use of explosives of an unidentified type and the theory has been put forward that the riot was a cover for a terrorist attack."

As Hotaru continued to watch the news she asked over her shoulder, "Is that right, or is it another yoma attack? The others have seen things like this before."

"No," Setsuna said in a puzzled voice, "as far as I could see we were clear of attacks for the time. After everything that has happened we were able to get a rest during this time." She thought for a moment, her mind now wide awake. "This wasn't supposed to happen today."

Behind her Haruka asked with amusement, "The riot, or running out here in the buff?"

Setsuna paused, and then looked down. She was indeed nude. The rush of finding out what had caused the usually quiet Hotaru to call out like that had causer her to forgo much of her morning routine, like putting on a robe.

She gathered her dignity around her like a cloak and turned smoothly, walking without hurry back to her room. Thankfully, Haruka's cat call was cut short when her lover, Michiru, put her elbow in Haruka's stomach.

After she was back in her room, Setsuna retrieved her PDA. Just to check her memory she looked at the day's major events and saw that nothing like this was ahead.

It wasn't the first time in history her foresight had been wrong. But every time it had events seemed to spiral out of control and do a great deal of damage.

She hoped that this time wouldn't be as bad.

**********

"How could things possibly get worse?"

Ranma's agonized grumble was received with silence. He was alone in the dojo after the fight had finally wound down, and he was trying to figure out how it had all happened. Everyone had simply blamed him, and he just couldn't fathom how that was.

"A nap. I was only taking a freaking nap," he growled out.

And that was how it started. He had been shaken out of his nap by the dream just in time to be hit by Akane's mallet. She had seen him thrashing in his sleep in response to the burning sensation of the dream lava, and assumed that Ranma was molesting one of his 'floozies' in his dream.

Hiroshi and Daisuke were long gone as he came to, but Ukyo had quickly shown up to find out what Akane was going off about now. It hadn't helped when she heard Akane's explanation and Ukyo only blushed and smirked.

"It's only natural for Ranchan to have those kinds of dreams about his cute fiancée."

Oh yeah, that really helped things.

After Akane had whomped him a second time, she and Ukyo started into a yelling match. Ranma took the distraction as a sign to get the hell out of Dodge, but he hadn't taken two steps before Kuno blocked his way.

"Ho dare you defile the pure Akane Tendo with thy base delusions! For the sake of Akane Tendo and the Pig Tailed Girl, HAVE AT THEE!"

Oh he just had to put in his two yen, didn't he?

Of course, Shampoo had shown up at that point, along with Kodachi coming in from another direction. As soon as they found out what was going on they had each claimed that Ranma would only have naughty dreams about them.

Ryoga and Moose had dropped by after that and began immediately attacking for subconsciously taking advantage of Akane and Shampoo respectively. Akane heard this and yelled at Ranma about how he was a pervert for having dreams about multiple girls and started swinging her mallet again.

Ms. Hinako then came by and heard the gist of the argument, and started blasting away with her chi vampire abilities and calling them delinquents, and Principle Kuno came along and started to attack Moose's 'offensively' long hair.

That's when things started to get a touch out of control.

It seemed like every…well, every asshole with an ax to grind had shown up all gunning for Ranma. The fight got bigger, people got in each other's way, and more fighting broke out as the various parties tried to determine who would be the one to punish/kill/maim/make hurt really bad one Ranma Saotome.

Ranma sighed, "Hiroshi was right. My like kinda sucks."

Dropping into a kata and flowing into forms he had learned by heart, Ranma began the process of clearing his mind. His movements were like a salve for him, and it allowed him to go over the events of the day with a detached mindset. It was something he found himself doing more and more often, and he had found that it didn't help as much as he liked. He could see events more clearly, but still had no real way to deal with them.

One thing that was painfully clear was that Akane was still not giving him an inch of leeway. He had done so much for the girl, but she still wouldn't look him in the eye with anything but anger.

Ok, he hadn't exactly been prince charming, even he could see that. But after a year he wasn't even really willing to try anymore. Of course none of the other girls really gave him a chance either. He supposed that in some way he had been leading them on for a while now, but it was the first time he had ever been wanted.

He just wished he was wanted by more stable people.

"Boy?"

Ranma had to concentrate to keep the kata flowing smoothly when he heard his father's voice. If there was anyone that needed a beating it was his old man. But no, that wouldn't be right. Ranma wanted to show he was in control this time, so he simply ignored the elder Saotome.

Genma continued, "I understand that there was a bit of a problem with those other girls today. Akane was quite upset; you should comfort your fiancée in this time of need."

"No I shouldn't," Ranma said calmly while maintaining the flow of his kata. "The fight today was started by her when she started yelling at me for no reason."

Genma shook his head, "She must have had a reason, Boy. What were you doing to upset her?"

"Taking a nap," Ranma answered, "during lunch. I wasn't breaking any rules. None of the other girls were there. I was as close to inert as possible, and she still got pissed at me."

"You should go and apologize to her anyway," Genma said, trying to sound wise.

"Why? That girl gets everything she wants, and anytime she doesn't I get pounded flat. Why do I have to apologize for doing nothing wrong?"

Again sounding serious Genma responded, "Because that is what real men do."

"Oh yeah," Ranma said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "That makes a lot of sense."

**********

"This makes absolutely no sense," Setsuna said with a sigh as she sat back in her office chair.

Across from her Ami Mizuno sat calmly, looking through the paper Setsuna had just given her.

"It is odd," the blue haired girl said, "but I'm not sure what I can do for you. I don't know much about the magic involved in the Gates of Time, and quantum theory isn't something I've studied. I want to be an M.D., not a Ph.D., remember."

"I know, I know. I just need a fresh perspective on this." Setsuna leaned back further and sighed, "My foresight is clouded. Michiru's Deep Aqua Mirror seems to be confused as well. I'm even going over to the shrine after classes and see if Rei can't help me. I wanted to fill you in because you have a knack for finding the details other miss."

Ami smiled lightly, "The first thing I notice is that you're bothered by this more then I'd expect. Aren't we supposed to be free of trouble for the time being?"

"Technically, yes," Setsuna said. She sat upright and locked eyes with Ami, "The trouble is that time is no where near as linear as people think. It's all wibbly-wobbly with possibilities floating off in random directions all the time. There are almost countless permutations on events that will lead us to Crystal Tokyo. Whole thing gives even me a headache if I think about it too much. It's only that a large percentage of them, about ninety eight, were problem free from now on."

Ami blinked and asked, "And the other two percent?"

Keeping a straight face Setsuna answered, "Anything from a minor hiccup to a total pooch screw."

"Oh," Ami said, flustered by the unexpected language from the normally composed Guardian of Time. "How do you define, ahem, 'total pooch screw'?"

"The planet becomes a burnt cinder in space and darkness spreads across the universe consuming all life."

"Ah." Ami and Setsuna sat in silence for a time as the young warrior of Mercury took this in.

Finally she spoke up, "I really don't have enough information right now, so I don't know what to tell you. So far you're using what assets we have access to, and until we find more information we really can't account for a time discrepancy like this." She paused and continued, "I could do a little investigating about the incident that started this. It could be a new enemy popping up in Nerima, or it could be terrorists like the news said. It could be nothing, and it could be the easiest thing to eliminate as a factor."

"Thank you, Ami," Setsuna answered. "Your clear head is very useful at times like this."

**********

"Your fat head is totally useless at times like this."

Ranma winced, "Why thank you ever so much, Nabiki. Do you think maybe we could stop pointing out how stupid I am for a minute and maybe you could just tell me why Akane is on the warpath this time?"

"Five thousand yen please," Nabiki smirked and held her hand out.

Ranma glared, "No thanks, I'll just live in ignorance after all."

Turning away, Ranma stormed out of Nabiki's room and proceeded downstairs. He was headed out the front door when his father moved to block him. But before Genma could get a word out, Ranma fixed him with a cold gaze. At first the older Saotome brushed off the hard look in his son's eyes, but in less then a second a wave of frosty air, killer intent, and raw power washed over him.

Frozen in place, Genma could do nothing as his son brushed past him, put on his slippers and walked out to clear his head.

Genma turned and watched Ranma leave the grounds, a worried look on his face.

Soun walked up behind him and asked, "Is your son straightened out, old friend? We need to get those two children ready for the next wedding attempt."

Genma lowered his gaze, not turning to look at Soun, "I don't know, Tendo. Ever since he returned from that last trip to China…it's been like a great weight has settled on his shoulders."

"You said his battle was hard," Soun said slowly, "he was forced to take a life out there. It may be hard for someone who is so pure in the art. Perhaps that still troubles him."

Genma shook his head, "I spoke with him about that a few nights later. It does bother him, but this is different. There is more disappointment then anything else. Not over the fight, but something that happened there. He just won't tell me what. It's like he doesn't trust me."

In fact, for once Genma was right. As Ranma walked he was considering the very problem that he wouldn't tell Genma about. The problem wasn't one that Ranma was prepared for. As a Martial Artist Ranma had spent his entire life for the next challenge; the next fight. None of it, nothing of what he knew helped him deal with a simple fact.

He had said he loved Akane.

On top of Mt. Phoenix after the worst battle of his life he had yelled out that he loved her. The pain of it was that once he had admitted it, to the world and himself he had expected things to get better.

He had stopped picking on Akane and had even gone along with the last second wedding that he had been hijacked into. He had avoided the other girls as much as humanly possible. He even stayed away from Ryoga when he could.

Not that any of that mattered.

Akane had been on the verge of death, and Ranma could only keep urging her not to close her eyes. He had won the battle, a war of primal forces, but in the end she lay in his arms, all but dead. He had said it, and she had heard him.

He was convinced that his life would turn around, that everything would be better. But after the failed wedding it had all gone back to normal. Akane blamed him for the fiasco, even if it was her own sister that had made sure every nut in Japan had been there. And so they were back to square one, with one minor difference.

Ranma.

Now as he found himself at his 'Thinking Spot' under the canal bridge he looked into the water and saw his distorted reflection. His life was out of control, like the ripples along the back of the river.

His love life was decided for him, it had been for years. His future was set in stone, run a dojo. His attitude had been crafted for him, be a man or die. His sanity had almost been destroyed when he was a child. His gender had been stripped from him by Jusenkyo. His honor had been chipped away by people he had considered friends.

Now as he looked into his reflection he considered the question that no one ever asked.

What did he want?

**********

"So what do you want?"

Rei was grumpy. She had had a rough day at school; three pop quizzes tend to do that. Then she had come home to find her grandfather trying to get a peek up the skirt of Setsuna of all people. After she had swiped the old letch away with a broom she found that the eldest of the Senshi had come to her with an annoyingly vague problem.

"I just want to know if you have noticed anything strange in your readings as of late," Setsuna asked. "It may be big, or it could seem inconsequential. I just want to know if there has been anything odd."

Rei closed her eyes to think for a moment and was about to dismiss the matter out of hand. Then she felt a tingle go up her spine and remembered minor eccentricities from the fire that had appeared in the last few days. They seemed to be nothing more then the chaotic nature of fire itself, but Setsuna asked for anything odd, and the Time Guardian never asked for anything without reason.

The shrine maiden turned to face the fire and began clearing her mind. She felt Setsuna settle down a short distance as the woman understood that Rei had taken her request seriously.

Low chanting filled the room as Rei tossed a small log on the fire and made a series of hand seals. As the chanting ended Rei opened her eyes, but her vision was not in the room where her body was.

Heat clashed with cold. An angry fire unlike any she had felt raged with overwhelming force against a knot of intense, determined ice. In the end the power of the fire was washed away when the ice lanced through it in a twisting, final strike. For an instant Rei felt her chest almost crushed by an intense weight and anguish, and for a heartbeat she saw a wavering sigil.

She fell out of her trance, gasping for air as the pressure was withdrawn from her. Setsuna came over quickly to check her, but Rei waved her off and regained her composure.

She began quietly, "Two power waged war. I haven't seen anything like it outside of Usagi…using the Crystal." She paused and took in Setsuna's reaction. The Senshi of Pluto hid her surprise quickly and nodded of Rei to continue. "Fire burned ice, and the ice fought back with an intensity that chilled me to the bone. The ice was weaker, but it won in the end, except, it lost something too. That's about all I felt. I was very indistinct."

"So," Setsuna said thoughtfully, "do you think this is a possible future?"

Rei shook her head, "No. This was the past. Not too long ago. But the symbol I saw felt even older."

"Symbol?"

Rei nodded and traced a shape in the air, "A circle, with a line though it."

Setsuna was rocked back, and a litany of blasphemous language almost escaped her lips on sacred ground. Then a smile formed on her face.

Finally she would be able to set things right with her old friend. Finally she would be able to make up her lack of foresight to herself and her Princess.

She would have to warn the others, especially Makoto and Haruka.

Their old drinking buddy would be back soon.

To be continued…

Endnote: The stages are set, the players in place. Next time the wrecking ball comes in to play its part and let a disenchanted soul meet some enchanted people. Until next time, be excellent to each other.


	3. Opposite Poles

It was a clear and warm Sunday afternoon. The air was clear and the sky was blue as the bustle of a Tokyo suburb made the soft noise of a peaceful community.

Ami and Makoto stepped off the bus at the end of the Furinkan shopping district and took a quick look around. Their first impression of the Nerima area was that it was a normal, quiet suburb. It was slightly smaller and more rural looking hen their area of the city so there was far less automotive traffic, but there was the same foot traffic.

The stores, food vendors, and other merchants along the street were diverse, and most seemed friendly as the two young women worked their way through the arcade. The people were normal and nothing stood out.

"I have no idea why we are here," Makoto said simply as she took a bite out of the cookie she had picked up from a small bakery.

Ami shrugged and looked over at her taller friend, "She's just a little concerned, that's all. Think of it like temporary blindness. You have seen all your life, and suddenly it's gone. Of course you would worry about what was around you because normally you'd see it. I doubt that there's anything to really worry about. We're just here to reassure her."

She continued walking, casually flipping open the Mercury Computer with one hand to start an active scan of the area. Almost immediately she stopped and looked at the screen. The entire area was littered with magical signatures, and only in the first few seconds of the scan. As it continued more and more low level magic distortions were detected.

"This isn't possible," she said softly.

"No kidding," Makoto said with a little concern in her voice.

Ami looked up, expecting the toughest of the Inner Senshi to be looking over her shoulder at the computer screen, but instead saw Makoto looking over to a stall not far away. Ami followed her gaze and found herself sharing Makoto's disbelief.

A giant black and white panda bear was carrying a bag of groceries and apparently arguing with a vegetable vendor in a series of grunts. A transaction was soon made, and the panda went on its way, walking towards them.

As it passed them it noticed the two girls staring openly at it. Pausing it reached into the grocery bag and pulled out a wooden sign with simple text on it.

'Good morning, ladies.'

The panda then bowed slightly, being polite.

Naturally the two girls bowed in return, "Good morning."

The six foot bear then continued past them, grunting out a light tune.

After it had left, Makoto and Ami looked after it for a long time. In Makoto's mind the event just couldn't register and she was stuck in a moment of utter shock. To Ami it only proved that there may be something to Setsuna's thought that there may be something odd going on in Nerima.

She also, surprisingly, found herself reacting very similar to the Time Guardian.

"What the fuck was that?"

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 3

Opposite Poles

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

There is a saying in Nerima. Gods fear when Kasumi frowns.

She had a frown on her face this Sunday afternoon. It had actually been there for some time, but she had hidden it well. It wouldn't do for her to show what she really felt about the current situation, after all running around screaming and swinging a chainsaw at her father and his old friend would be unbecoming of a proper lady.

Her aggravation stemmed from the treatment of Ranma Saotome, a simple young man who had more then his share of problems. Before Ranma had arrived over a year ago, Kasumi was on the edge already. Her life was bland and repetitive, and the young man had brought life back into the household.

Before Ranma, her father was withdrawn, now he was active and full of life. Kasumi would be even happier with this if he wasn't so focused on ruining the lives of two people.

As much as she felt for Ranma, she also understood Akane's anger. The girl had never been treated well at school, and her martial arts were her only refuge. Even though she was mostly self-taught because of their father's depression, Akane had quickly become respected as the warrior queen of Furinkan High. Ranma had arrived and tilted the martial arts community on its ear, and Akane was now near the bottom of the heap.

Throw in the fact that the boy turned into pinup material and Akane's self image as the popular girl that all the boys wanted was shot out of the water.

Ranma didn't even really understand what he had done just by showing up, and that made it all the worse. Akane mistook his honest ignorance as false humility and ego, and it was only another knife twist in the girl's heart.

Everything that had happened after that only made things worse.

And now as Kasumi looked out from her place of peace, her kitchen, she saw Ranma sitting on the edge of the porch agonizing over what he had done, or what Akane had perceived him to do.

"Ranma," Kasumi called out. The young man looked up and Kasumi almost winced at the look of hopelessness in his eyes. She waved him into the kitchen and had him sit on a stool while she leaned against the counter.

"It seems like things aren't going well for you at the moment," she observed quietly.

Ranma grunted noncommittally.

She continued, "Have you talked with your parents about this?"

"Pops says to suck it up and take my beating like a man," Ranma said, anger in his voice, "and I already know what Mom would say. Making my fiancée unhappy is unmanly, whatever the hell that means."

The disgust in his voice made Kasumi pause, and in that instant she realized that she had been more of a mother to Ranma then his own. She had been kind, caring, and most important of all she had been there for him. Even now Mrs. Saotome wanted Ranma to stay at the Tendos so he could 'be manly with his fiancée'.

The brown haired girl thought for a moment. If she was going to help Ranma, and her sister, she would need to be honest, like her own mother was.

She asked, "What happened in China?"

Ranma almost glared at her, but he knew that Kasumi was trying as best she could to help him. He started slowly, but eventually told her the entire story. After he was done he felt emotionally drained, but it was a burden off his chest that he had finally been able to talk about it.

Kasumi sighed, "I want to thank you for saving Akane." She paused and then continued, "I don't think it will work out between you and Akane. The two of you were never mature enough for the kind of relationship that our families demanded, and now I think Akane is scared, and you…you are finding out that you need more in life then a cute smile every now and then."

Ranma blinked, and then nodded. It did make sense to him. Neither of them had wanted the commitment that Soun and Genma demanded. But it still left an important question unanswered.

"So what do I do now?"

"I can't tell you," Kasumi said. "You are at the part of your life where you have to make choices. Choices about the person you want to be. A martial arts master, or a husband, or maybe something else. All I know is that you have to stand by whatever you choose. And I've never seen you back down from a challenge of this magnitude."

Ranma was unconvinced, "What about the arrangement? Our dads aren't just going to let this slide. They'll force me into marrying Akane. Not to mention all the other crap that Pops has piled on me over the years. It seems like if I do anything then someone will get hurt."

"People get hurt, Ranma," Kasumi said softly. "That's how life goes. You are hurt every time Akane rejected you. Shampoo and Ukyo are hurt whenever you run from them. Even I get hurt. It just happens. Its how we handle that pain that tells us what kind of person we are."

Ranma snorted, "I guess I'm a coward then, for running away from all this."

"Goodness no," Kasumi said, honestly surprised. "You are the bravest, most self-sacrificing person I've ever met. You'd do anything to help those in need, even if they don't deserve it."

"All that proves is that Ranma is a sucker."

Kasumi and Ranma turned and saw Nabiki leaning against the doorframe, a smirk on her face.

Kasumi's frown returned, "That is not fair, Nabiki. After everything Ranma has done for us…"

"You mean done to us," Nabiki countered. "How many times have we had to shell out for fixing the dojo, the roof, the doors, the walls, the floor, the table, and everything else around here? Face it, Sis, all Ranma does is break stuff. Trying to tell him that he's anything better is just deluding the poor slob."

"I'm right here, you know," grumbled Ranma. "And where do you get off accusing me of anything. How much money have you made off me lately? How many photos have you sold of me to Kuno? Or the other pervs in our school? How much did you make off selling me out to whoever you felt like?" His anger was starting to grow now, and he rose out of his seat. "How much did you get for ruining your own sister's wedding?" He was yelling now. "How much money was in it for destroying my one chance for happiness?!"

For a moment Kasumi saw fear flicker in her sister's eyes, but then Nabiki calmed herself and shot back, "Back off, Jock Boy. Or maybe you'd like me to make it worse for you? I think Kodachi would like to know you're a heavy sleeper."

Kasumi flinched, and tried to stop Ranma, but before she could reach him his battle aura flared and his fist shot forward.

In a moment it was over, and Ranma's fist was a hair's width away from Nabiki's nose. Slowly the middle Tendo girl blinked and stumbled back to lean heavily against the wall, her knees trembling.

Ranma walked out, seething.

"I knew he wouldn't have the guts," Nabiki said once he was out of earshot, an almost imperceptible tremble in her voice.

"I think he should have," Kasumi said, steel in her voice. "You deserve it for that."

Nabiki stared at her sister, who simply turned away and started working on lunch.

**********

Ami thought of herself as a rational person, but two hours in Nerima was starting to push it.

After the odd encounter with the grocery shopping panda she and Makoto had seen a duck delivering Chinese takeout, a narcoleptic horseman, a monkey serving tea, a guy dressed like a playing card trying to scam eight year olds, a girl on rollerblades chasing a pig named 'Charlotte', and a little troll like man who had felt up Makoto as he ran by being chased by a horde of angry women.

Ami was slightly stressed.

"This whole place is a fucking psycho ward."

"Amen, sister," Makoto grunted as she leaned against the wall of the alley they had taken refuge in. "I swear I haven't seen weirdos like this since…well they do kind of remind me of the monsters we usually have to fight."

Ami gave an amused snort, "I guess this is what normal people feel like when they see one of our fights. It just doesn't make sense, but its right in front of you so you have to accept it or go nuts. I wonder if that's what's happening here."

"What do you mean?"

Ami looked out into the street and explained, "These people don't even think there is anything odd about all the things happening. Either it is normal for round here, in which case reality is out of whack; or they don't notice because they can't deal with it and block it out."

Makoto sighed, "It could be us. We could be the ones seeing things you know. We've seen so much weirdness that it may affect us."

"I know," Ami said and looked her friend in the eye, "but that really scares me, and unless I get some kind of outside confirmation I really don't want to think about it."

Makoto smirked, "That makes us sound like we're in denial."

Ami groaned and rubbed her forehead, "This is not helping. We need to get out of here and tell Setsuna about this place. And then we need to avoid it for the rest of our lives."

"Then lets scram," Makoto nodded. "I want to go back to where the weirdos are attacking us, not shopping."

**********

"And then we took the first train and got the hell out of there." Makoto said, finishing her recount of the trip to Nerima.

She and Ami sat with the other Senshi in the Outer's living room sipping some calming tea Michiru had provided the distressed girls.

"If it were anyone but the two of you," Minako said in wonder, "I wouldn't believe a word of it."

"I was there," Ami said as she worked on the Mercury Computer, "and I barely believe it. It's like the entire district is a hub of random events."

"Chaotic events are more like it," Setsuna said from behind her. She was looking over Ami's shoulder at the computer's screen and studying the readings the magical device had taken. "It's almost like the area is a magic sinkhole of some kind."

Usagi looked up form the cookie she was nibbling on and asked, "What does all this have to do with us? If it's not an attack then shouldn't we leave it alone?"

"Kitten has a point," Haruka said. "If we go looking for trouble we'll probably find it."

Setsuna didn't bother looking up as she answered, "Perhaps, but we owe it to one of our own to find out if this is all connected."

"One of us?" Rei became pensive, "Is this about that symbol I saw?"

Setsuna nodded, "Sailor Polaris, she was one of the best, and worst, of us."

"Polaris?"

"Who was that?"

"Why haven't we heard about her before?"

A barrage of questions was called out at the same time, and Setsuna finally looked up and shouted for quiet. Once people were settled again she got ready to speak. But before she could, Hotaru spoke up.

"She was the one who taught me to fight with a staff, wasn't she?"

The Time Guardian nodded at the youngest of the Senshi and saw a small smile bloom on the girl's face.

"Polaris was the leader of a group of refugees from a dying world. Queen Serenity took them in, and Polaris became once of the Royal Senshi. She taught some of us her people's fighting styles, and helped us out in some tough spots. She was well liked by us all, even if a few never really admitted it," at this she looked at Haruka who seemed confused.

Usagi asked, "What happened to her? Wasn't she sent forward like the rest of us?"

Setsuna actually looked sheepish at this, "In a way. Something happened in transit, and she wound up being returned to life in an unusual manner. Then I kind of lost her for a while."

The last part was almost whispered, but still heard by all, and a quiet state of shock settled over the room.

"You lost her," Michiru asked softly.

"Time is a fragile thing, and from what Ami is showing me here the area where Polaris may or may not be in is just the kind of place that distorts reality around it." Setsuna returned to staring intently at the data Ami had gathered, "We need to be careful or could disturb a delicate balance here."

Usagi asked, "Shouldn't we just go and look for her? Wouldn't that be the easy…"

"Oh no, not her," Haruka suddenly said, realization dawning on her face. "Not that loud, egotistical, psychotic bitch. We don't want anything to do with her!"

Setsuna only smiled, "Remembered a little, did you?"

"A little?! She was constantly beating the hell out of me. And none of you ever stopped her."

Makoto's eyes widened and she picked up the train of thought, "That's because you kept going after her. She always said that bruising your ego was the best way to train you."

Minako added thoughtfully, "Polly did have a knack for figuring out how to push us…"

As the group slowly tried to grasp clouded, half dream like memories Ami and Setsuna shrugged at each other. If there was one thing these girls were good at it was dredging up rumors and gossip, and at this point it was all they could remember of Sailor Polaris.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"

Suddenly Minako was upright and shouting into the face of her feline friend Artemis. She was holding the embarrassed looking cat by the scruff of the neck, and was fuming as she shook him, attempting to get an answer.

"Stop shaking me," Artemis gasped out. Once he was still he continued, "I just said every time you butted into her personal life you wound up flat on you back just like Uranus. Polaris' social life was a major note of contention among the Senshi, and she wanted nothing to do with it. Not that it ever stopped any of you from trying to 'help' her."

Setsuna coughed, "Unfortunately Artemis is correct. Her opposition to courtship was legendary." She smiled again, "You were always getting her into trouble back…" She paused as a bit of data crossed Ami's screen and her hand shot out, "WAIT! Stop there. Go back." There was a long silence as Setsuna's eyes darted back and forth across the screen.

"What is it, Pluto," Luna asked as she worked her way across the back of the couch to join her in looking over Ami's shoulder.

Ami spoke up, "There is a large concentration of magical and semi-magical artifacts in one location. According to this there are several chaos magic signatures in close proximity."

"And among them," Setsuna said coldly, "Is a trace of Polaris' energy." She paused and thought for a moment. "I don't want to risk any of you going into that place again, especially after everything Makoto and Ami have told us. Tomorrow I'll go to Nerima and investigate this."

"You shouldn't go alone," Haruka said. "We don't know for sure that this area isn't more dangerous then we think."

"At least take this," Ami said as she closed the Mercury Computer and held it up to her. The others looked at the studious Senshi in surprise, and after a moment Setsuna accepted the device.

Knowing how important the computer was to Ami Setsuna said quietly, "I'll be very careful with it. I promise."

Minako smirked, "At least we know there is one other place on Earth as weird as our town."

**********

Ryoga looked around at the assembled men before him. He had been here a few times recently, and the people were accepting of him, even if they were a little odd.

The leader of the lodge spoke up next to him, "Bow you heads for the Man's Prayer."

Ryoga did so, and was surprised by the wisdom in the words that followed, intoned by the assembly

"I'm a man. But I can change. If I have to. I guess."

The Lost boy was comforted by these words, for was that not his nature? Cursed as he was he still fought on to change his life by removing the obstacle to his happiness, Ranma Saotome.

Mr. Green spoke up again, "I'd like to welcome Ryoga Hibiki as a new Lodge member. He's a good kid, and the only one ever to lift Moose Thompson over his head. And for that sacrifice at the Possum Lake Pie Eating Contest we thank him."

Ryoga smiled at the applause. Every once in a while it was really nice to be appreciated, even if this place was almost as strange as Nerima was sometimes.

He'd have to see if he could get Mr. Green to fix his umbrella before he left to get back to Nerima; it was only a few towns over, after all.

**********

Ranma shivered, a cold spike of dread shooting up his spine. He looked around, expecting Ryoga or Moose, or Kuno with some new stupid attack. But for once he seemed to be in the clear.

He looked down from the fence he was walking on at the top of Akane's head and wondered for not the first time if his father was trying to get him to commit suicide.

This time he had been roped into walking with Akane down to the market to pick up a few last minute ingredients for sukiyaki tonight. His father was convinced that this would be the perfect time for him to apologize for everything over the last few days, even though Ranma continued to profess his innocence.

He was about to ask her a question about what they were going to pick up when he suddenly felt something brush against the edge of his awareness. It was as if he was being watched, and unlike the times with Sasuke, Copycat Ken, Hikaru Gosuinkugi, or even Nabiki, this presence was almost untraceable.

Trying not to show, he let his eyes drift across the areas ahead of him, scanning for anything out of the ordinary, but there was nothing there. Focusing behind him, Ranma couldn't feel anything there either. It was beginning to bother him, and he could feel his danger sense start to warm up.

"Are you listening to a thing I say?!"

Ranma blinked, "huh?"

Akane was looking up at him, shoulders squared and a heavy frown on her face, "Are you daydreaming about those floozies of yours again? I asked what your father wanted to talk to you about before we left."

"Nothing important," Ranma said dismissively as he started looking around more actively. "Do you feel anything strange?"

"What are you talking about?" Akane countered. "I thought you were going to apologize for being a creep!"

"Huh," Ranma repeated. He was having trouble catching up with what the girl was saying as his danger senses flared. He could almost feel lethal intent in the air. He jumped off the fence and took up a defensive stance, head swiveling constantly looking for danger.

"He was supposed to tell you to apologize to me and be nicer," Akane said under her breath.

"Wait, what?" Ranma stumbled out of his stance and looked at the Tendo girl. "How would you know what he was going to say? The only way you could know what he told me was if this…" Understanding suddenly dawned on Ranma's face, "If you were trying to set me up."

He wanted to get angry at being manipulated once again, but before he could even start there was a deafening crack in the air, and a block down the road, at the entrance to the shopping arcade a glowing blue vortex exploded into existence.

There was movement from within it as forms began to emerge.

Then the screaming began.

To be continued…

Endnote: Next time, Ranma finds that not all his enemies are as nice as Ryoga as he and the Senshi face the first two waves of this new threat. Until next time, who put the bomp in the bomp she-bomp bomp?


	4. Strong Forces

Ranma was a little pissed, and the distraction of a horde of creatures attacking the marketplace near the high school was not helping his temperament.

The creatures were about a head shorter than his girl form, brown, leathery, and scrambling all over the place. Two or three would trash a store, and each would grab a worker or customer, using a clawed hand to cover their face and draw ki from their bodies. Then they would jump away and repeat the process in the next establishment.

To Ranma's senses it was similar to an attack by Ms. Hinako, or the old letch, but instead of converting the ki for their own use, the creatures seemed to only store it. His eyes tracked the creatures rapidly and counted an even dozen and more victims by the second.

But that wasn't what was really pissing him off.

He had just found out, through a few coincidences and a slip of the tongue that Akane of all people had been conspiring with their parents to get him to apologize.

On the surface he didn't really mind, and he knew that when she was angry with him she could find out all sorts of little ways to make his life hell. But for her to actually work with his idiot father…

No, if Genma Saotome was helping then he would have been crowing to him about it, how even Akane was coming around to the Father's point of view. It all came back to the fact that Akane was mad at him, and after the fight at the school she must have seen Genma scold him. She had used that to her advantage to get him to treat her better without any effort on her part.

She played him.

Ranma turned away from Akane, who was watching the commotion in the arcade with wide eyes and locked on to something that he could actually take his anger out on.

It was a bad day to be a servant of Dark forces in Nerima.

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 4

Strong Forces

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

It was a good day to be a servant of Dark forces in Juuban.

The portal had surprised the local merchants, and the creatures that swarmed through were of a different type then seen by most people before. Where monsters that had attacked before were typically female in shape and vaguely humanoid, these were male, short, leathery, and not at all pleasant to look at.

On top of that, even though the attacks seemed random and ruthless, the little demons were smart. No one person was being targeted, and the horde was doing a good job of corralling the humans so that none of them were able to get away. In addition, any person that tried to fight off the attack was swarmed by up to five of the beasts.

It hadn't taken long for the district's sailor suited defenders of love and justice to be alerted to the chaos so close by, and led by Mercury's computer the five Inner Senshi and four Outer Senshi landed in the middle of the congregation of small demonic forms.

"The shopping arcade is a place for peaceful…"

Sailor Moon's speech was cut off as three of the creatures leapt into the air, jumping straight for her. The blond stumbled back, her arms pin wheeling, but before they impacted the creatures were intercepted by bolts of fire and lightning, and the last was sliced in half by an overhand sword strike.

"It doesn't look like they're in a talking mood, Princess," Uranus said as she brought her blade back around.

Moon nodded, her long ponytails jumping up and down with her head, "Maybe we should just blast them then, I guess."

Mars moved to stand guard on Moon's left and brought her fingers together, "Good call, Dumpling Head. We better…"

She stopped as suddenly the horde of monsters fell back, taking cover behind benches and in doorways. For a moment the Senshi paused at this unexpected behavior, and then the creatures hands began to glow.

"Incoming!"

At Venus' cry the Senshi dove for whatever cover they could find as shots of fire started blazing through them. Mercury was caught flat footed, and only Sailor Saturn's quick use of her Silence Wall power saved her from a hail of blasts. Jupiter reached out from behind a delivery truck and grabbed the hem of her friend's skirt, pulling her to cover.

"You ok?" the tall brunette asked Mercury.

The blue haired girl was flat on the ground, but the uncomfortable change in position did not stop the genius girl Senshi as she activated the visor that was connected to her computer that she had retrieved from Pluto before the fight started.

"These creatures are acting different then any we've faced before."

Pluto took position near Sailor Moon, spinning her staff and knocking away blasts that came near. She yelled over the explosions, "They are too organized! Someone must be controlling them directly!"

Mercury nodded to the eldest of the Senshi and looked around, allowing her visor to scan the entire area, ducking as a near miss grazed the side of the truck.

Suddenly her arm shot out, pointing into the air above the bulk of the enemy force.

"There!"

"Very good," a voice said from thin air, "It is good to see that this world's guardians have some perception." A figure faded into view, a woman in a loose hooded red robe that was split to show her bare legs. She held a staff of twisted wood in one hand and the other was covered in a gold gauntlet. Her face was shrouded by the hood, but glowing white eyes could be seen in the shadows of the garment.

"Now," the newcomer said as the creatures ceased their attack, "let us see how you handle a true mage."

She raised her gilded hand, and a bolt of blue lightning shot out.

**********

Ranma had found the monsters attacking Nerima to be tougher then they looked, but were too slow to really concentrate any fire on him. And fire they had, as blasts trailed after him as he darted from opponent to opponent.

He would bounce in front of one and deliver a hard strike, knocking the smaller brown creature down, and then delivering a quick chop to the head to make sure that they would stay down for the time being. Any counter was avoided, and he could tell that the attacks were well coordinated, but his experience dodging groups of rivals that were far more skilled then these creatures allowed him a great deal of leeway.

The problem was that he could not tackle the entire group fast enough. For every one he engaged, two were attacking innocent bystanders, and two were attempting to revive their fallen comrades. The rest were shooting strange energy balls at him.

Charging his battle aura, Ranma charged two more foes, but before he could strike them he saw Akane out of the corner of his eye attempting to down one of the creatures with a hard punch. Ranma knew the girl had more then enough power to do the job, but her speed left her open.

The small creature ducked Akane's haymaker and lashed a clawed hand at her, striking the Tendo girl's face. Wisps of energy began flowing into the creature, and Akane's struggling started failing.

In a flash, Ranma was there with a ki charged knife hand to the monster's arm, jarring it loose from Akane. Acting rapidly he scooped the girl up and pumped as much ki as he could into his legs, jumping high into the air.

"What are you doing," Akane yelled at him, "let go of me!"

"Gotta get you clear first," Ranma grunted as they reached the apex of his jump. "Those things are too fast for you."

Akane scowled, "I can take care of myself! I don't need your help!"

"Be serious, Akane," Ranma growled as he alighted on top of a nearby building. "These things aren't just attacking people. They move like soldiers." He put Akane down and pointed down into the chaos below, "They move in squads, give each other cover fire, and have an objective."

Akane looked at him oddly, "What are you talking about? You're no soldier, so how do you know all that?"

"One of the last stops that Pops and me made before we went over to China was to stop at the American military base in Okinawa. I managed to get some training with the Marines there. Good grapplers, good fighters. Tough as Ryoga and twice as nasty in a fight. Those things down there are moving just like them."

Akane blinked as she tried to absorb this, but before she could reply Ranma had already jumped back down and was re-engaging the monsters.

Moving with purpose, Ranma abandoned his rapid strikes from one monster to another and instead moved from cover to cover, trying to avoid detection as he moved back among the invaders. The creatures had returned to gathering their dark harvest after seeing him flee, and he used that to his advantage. His new plan may not have been honorable, but he realized that this was no duel, lives were on the line against a military force, and it was his duty as a martial artist to defend those that could not defend themselves.

One of the creatures on the perimeter of the battleground was suddenly pulled into an alley, and a hard thud was heard that sounded much like a head being rammed into a brick wall.

One monster suddenly had a trash can slammed over his head by a red and black blur and felt the impacts of a hundred punches in less then a second.

A third creature was entering a bookstore when he was suddenly hit from behind by a large blue ki sphere that slammed him into the still closed door.

Another invader was reaching to grab a paralyzed human, but stopped suddenly when he was hit over the head by a cement park bench.

An invader was helping one of his comrades that had fallen during the first engagement when he stepped in a loop of rope that immediately snapped taught and slammed him into a steel lamppost.

"Five up, five down," Ranma whispered to himself as he hustled to hide behind a fruit stand close to the center of the battleground. "Hidden Leaf my ass."

"Impressive," called out a deep baritone voice, "You are skilled at both hand to hand and guerrilla warfare. But do you have the skill and courage to face one such as I?"

Ranma peeked out from behind the stand as saw that the invaders had fallen back, moving away from his position. In front of the group stood a much larger man, or at least what Ranma assumed was a man.

Covered in blood red armor from head to toe, accentuated in gold trim and spikes, this new opponent easily towered over the other creatures. He rested the tip of a four foot long broadsword on the ground and rested his hands on top of the pommel. His unadorned helmet had only three horizontal slits on it, and they glowed a pale white.

And he was looking right at Ranma.

"Oh crap."

**********

Another eldritch bolt slammed into the ground, singeing the boot heels of Sailor Moon as she randomly dodged around the destroyed street. For her it was more of the same since she had first become Sailor Moon, but for her enemy in this fight it was a little disconcerting.

The sailor skirted defender of love and justice seemed to be untouchable.

The other Senshi were defending themselves as well after the initial onslaught. Uranus had taken a blast in the chest when Neptune was attacked, and the Outer Senshi were now hidden behind Saturn's Silence Wall along with Mercury who was tending to the wounded warrior. Venus was diving from broken bench to fire hydrant to tree, trying to get a clear shot at the floating spell caster from behind. Mars and Jupiter had double teamed their opponent from the front, hoping to distract her and give Sailor Moon time to bring out the big guns.

Nothing really seemed to help, however as bolts of raw power struck out from the mage's golden gauntlet time and time again, blasting cover, scorching asphalt, and keeping the Senshi from gaining any ground.

"We need to regroup," called out Mars as she spun away from an exploding trash can.

Suddenly the barrage stopped.

"Then I shall let you," said the hovering spell caster as she lowered her hand.

Mars blinked and looked in wonder as the hooded witch drifted to the ground and seemed to wait. She slowly edged back to the rest of her teammates, keeping an eye on their opponent as the other Senshi gathered.

"What's going on," she whispered to the others, "is she making fun of us or something?"

"No," Pluto answered. "She knows she has the advantage over us at the moment. It may seem overconfident, but she truly thinks that this battle was hers from the beginning."

Sailor Moon knelt down next to Mercury and looked over Uranus, "How is she?"

The warrior Senshi grunted, "I'm fine. Just let me get up and I'll finish off that witch, no problem."

"She has a burn on her abdomen," said Mercury, "and the electrical discharge may have impaired her equilibrium. She'll heal in a few hours with our powers, but right now she won't be able to fight."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm only a little winded." The sandy blond attempted to stand, but as soon as she attempted to bend at the waist her hand shot to her midsection and she winced, falling back.

"I swear," Neptune huffed as Uranus' head landed back in her lap, "you are far too macho for your own good. Are you sure you aren't a little boy instead of a woman?"

Uranus smiled and managed to get out, "Maybe you can check later to make sure."

Neptune lightly bopped her on the head, and a blushing Mercury coughed out, "She'll be fine."

Moon nodded and stood, a look of determination crossing her face. She began walking towards their enemy, but Mars moved to intercept her.

"What are you doing? We need to stick together and come up with a plan to overpower this witch."

Moon spoke softly, "I know. I'll be right back." Then she brushed past her friend and stood out in the middle of the deserted street, eyes fixed on the hooded enchantress.

"Why are you doing this," she called out, "why are you hurting these innocent people?"

"I see no innocent people here," the mage answered in a silky voice. "All I see is food."

Moon was confused and spoke again, "But these are good people, working, shopping, living, and playing. They are not food, but precious life."

"Oh yes, they are precious life. And that is why we have come. You shine in the night like beacons to us, and our hunger grows. Our Master felt your light, and craves it so. He sent us to consume your world as we have done before, for it is only in the extinguishing of light that the darkness can grow." As the sorceress spoke her voice gained an almost erotic quality as she expressed her delight at the idea of devouring light.

Sailor Moon shuddered inn horror and asked in a small voice, "Who…What are you?"

The witch rolled her head back and gave a long laugh, "I am…Famine."

**********

"War," Answered the armored behemoth as Ranma stood before him, "and you are?"

"I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Indiscriminate Grappling. Now that that's settled why don't you just back off and leave these people alone."

The armored warrior slowly shook his head and his voice echoed across the street, "No. I am disappointed in you. You seem to understand my ways well, but now you show ignorance. The ways of War do not allow for retreat when I have such an advantage over my foe."

"Fine," answered Ranma, "but let's move this somewhere where nobody will get hurt."

Again War shook his head, "You still do not understand. My goal is not only to challenge strong fighters, but to destroy and consume all the world. That is the nature of war, to destroy." With that the red hued knight raised his large sword and let it fall again to strike the ground. A flash of power erupted from the point of impact and sent a shockwave out towards Ranma.

The young martial artist jumped high into the air and grumbled, "Dammit, another Ryoga. Don't I get a break from reckless loonies? No, of course not." Flipping in mid air, Ranma tucked in tight and began his descent at War, foot extended in a kick. The warrior readied his sword and slashed upwards, but struck only air.

The knight looked around to try and spot the youth, but before he could find him, Ranma's voice came from behind him.

"I just can't let you go nuts like this, you know."

War turned his head and looked down the length of his sword that had swung behind him on the backswing to find Ranma crouching on the flat of the blade near the tip. Before the warrior could react, Ranma pushed off the sword with his hands and lashed out with a hard kick to the knight's head. The kick landed hard, and Ranma jumped away, dropping into a defensive stance between War and the few civilians that were still mobile.

"You don't get past me," The young Saotome declared confidently.

The knight righted himself and brought his sword around into an offensive stance, "Impressive, but futile. No mortal skill can stop me. And all your efforts do is to drag out the inevitable destruction of your foolish self."

Ranma smirked, "I doubt that, you Kuno wannabe."

War shook his head, "Now you learn the difference between skill and power." With that the red knight pulled his sword around almost faster then Ranma could track and unleashed a massive wave of power. Ranma was about to dodge to avoid it, but there were still people behind him trying to get away. In less then a heartbeat Ranma changed his plan and rooted his feet into the ground.

He drew deeply upon himself and pulled every shred of confidence forward, using it to drive his ki as high as he could. His aura flashed blue, and he cupped his hands outward.

"MOUKO TAKABISHA!!!"

A sphere of swirling ki blasted out from Ranma and impacted with War's destructive wave. For a moment the two power sources struggled against each other, each seeking to overpower the other. Then in an explosion of light and sound the wave destroyed Ranma's attack and shot forward, slamming into the stunned martial artist.

Ranma was knocked back with considerable force and skidded along the ground, bottom first for twenty feet before he came to a rest, gasping for air. His hands went to his chest, and he instantly knew that at least three of his ribs were cracked.

He saw from his prone position that Akane was still watching from her rooftop, hands clasped over her mouth in shock. He didn't let his eyes linger there, and looked further down the road and saw that the street was now clear. He had bought enough time for people to get away.

Groaning, he attempted to roll onto his knees, but as he did he was ceased with a fit of coughing. He covered his mouth, and when the fit was done he looked down and saw blood on his hand.

"Now you see, young warrior," the knight's voice came from behind him. "You may be skilled, but you will never be able to overcome my power as long as you throw yourself into my attacks."

Ranma gasped out, "No fair. You were aiming at those people. I couldn't dodge or they'd have been killed. What kind of monster are you?"

Ranma turned and saw War approach him, sword moving upwards for one final strike.

"The kind that wins."

**********

The battle had resumed, but there was a difference. After Famine's declaration, Sailor Moon had grown more determined. The callus way the sorceress had dismissed the innocent people she was harming had offended the Moon Princess greatly, and it showed in the hard look in the girl's eyes.

Mercury stayed with Uranus, gathering more data with her computer as Neptune stood guard over them. Pluto and Saturn flanked the princess, moving to block or deflect as many of the bolts as they could as the Princess focused her resolve inward.

Mars, Venus and Jupiter charged forward, Venus giving cover fire while Mars threw dozens of spirit wards drawn out of her glove and Jupiter barreling in to battle with her hand to hand skills.

The assault was difficult, to be sure, but their magically enhanced reflexes gave them just enough leeway to avoid most of the strikes, and as lightning rained down among them they struck.

Under Sailor Venus' cover, Sailor Mars sprinted in and jumped high into the air. With a quick flip of the wrist and a split second of concentration a ward in her hand stiffened, and she slapped it on Famine's forehead as she passed overhead, her Senshi boosted agility allowing her to dart out of the way as Sailor Jupiter charged in behind her to unload a massive uppercut that knocked back the dark witch, and with a spin kick the warrior of lightning and wood knocked Famine's staff away. The tall brunette then rolled to one side as she felt a massive magical charge from behind.

"Dead Scream," Sailor Pluto whispered as she launched a sphere of temporal instability that impacted solidly with Famine.

The sorceress stumbled back, but her gilded hand reached up and pulled the spirit ward off her forehead, "I see that you are not like that other one. The Master will need to know the power of the Senshi here on Earth." With that she reached out, and her staff flew back into her hand, and she let go of the ward.

As the paper started to flutter to the ground a rose shot out and struck it, pinning it to her chest. The dark witch winced in surprise and looked up to see her new attacker. A young man clad in a tuxedo, mask, top hat, and cape stood atop a lamp post arm outstretched after a throw.

"You underestimate us all," Tuxedo Mask stated calmly. "Your battle is not yet over. Sailor Moon!"

Moon was already winding up, her enchanted baton like kaleidoscope glowing with power as she dropped to one knee and pushed it towards Famine.

"MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!"

Famine managed to bring her armored hand up to block the concentrated blast of prismatic light that crashed into her, but it did little as the gold appendage began to disintegrate. Drawing what power she could, the witch forced a spell through, and as the last of her hand vaporized she teleported away, robes smoking from the shear energy.

Sailor Moon let out a breath and collapsed to her knees. In a flash Tuxedo Mask was behind her, allowing her to rest against him, "It's over…"

"No," Sailor Pluto said sadly, "This may only be the beginning."

**********

Ranma ignored the pain and rolled to one side as the blade came down. The pigtailed martial artist gathered himself and continued to roll until he came to the edge of the road where a fire hydrant stopped him rolling further.

Ranma saw this and muttered, "Oh, this can't be good…"

He kicked up and tumbled away again as War came in with a horizontal slash that would have removed Ranma's torso from his legs, and instead took off the top of the hydrant, spraying the area in cold water.

Ranma gasped as the change washed over him and almost had to bite his lip to hold back the pain as his ribs made themselves home in his female form's smaller frame.

She muttered a low curse under her breath and let her left arm wind under her breasts to cover and hold the wound. She was now positive that one of her ribs was on the verge of breaking. She needed this to end now. Ranma took up a one handed stance and readied herself to resume the battle.

To her surprise she saw that War had taken several steps back, his sword in a low guard position.

She then heard a whisper from the red knight, "You…it can't be…"

The warrior then stood straight and saluted her with his massive blade, "This has become most interesting. I yield the field to you for now, but this draw will not last. Next time we meet I shall have my master's permission to finish this. For now, farewell."

With that the knight faded from view.

Ranma held her stance until she was sure War was gone, then muttered as she fell to her knees, "What the hell was that about?"

The redhead's body then caught up with her, and Ranma collapsed to the ground, awareness swallowed by darkness.

To be continued…

Endnote: Sorry about the delay folks, I have no excuse but to say that choreographing a huge fight in two places is a little hard for me. Putting that aside for the moment, next time Pluto makes her trip to Nerima and finds out that things can actually be worse then she thought. Until next time, Quando Omni Flunkus Moritai.


	5. Resistance

War and Famine knelt before a wall of shadows, a cold presence looming over them from just beyond their sight. To either side of them were two more kneeling figures also shrouded in shadow, but the attention of the malevolent aura was focused solely on the red knight and hooded sorceress.

"Speak," came a deep and resonant voice.

Famine stood, her white glowing eyes still downcast as she spoke, "My Master, I have no excuse. I was overconfident and faced the bulk of this world's Senshi on my own. In my hunger I lost sight of my limits and allowed them to stop the gathering. I await your judgment."

She knelt again, her head lowered.

"Show me the price you paid for your mistake."

Famine held out her stumped arm that once ended in a golden gauntlet. From the shadows a grey arm stretched out, its hand covered in black flame. Silently Famine shifted forward and held up her wound, and with a touch of the flame coated hand she screamed in pain, and pleasure.

As the smoke cleared the witch once more had a gilded hand, and as she flexed it experimentally she sighed in relief.

"Thank you for your forgiveness, my Master," she whispered softly and moved back to resume her place among her cohorts. As she took her place, War stood and even his large and imposing form seemed small compared to the pressure from the shadowed entity.

The knight spoke, "My Master, I did not win my battle, but I have returned with knowledge that I felt was more important then the trifle of human energy we collected."

"And what is this information that diverted you from my command?"

War held out his hand and an image flickered to life. It was a young woman clad in black silk pants and a long sleeved red silk shirt done up with simple wooden ties. Her eyes were bright blue and her hair was bright red and done in a pigtail. She stood in a defiant stance.

War spoke softly, "She is here."

A sound came from the darkness. It started softly, but soon increased in volume until it echoed in the shadows. It was deep, cold, evil and soul stealing.

Finally the shadowed form's laughter died down and he spoke one word.

"Perfect."

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 5

Resistance

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

For Ranma, regaining conciousness was like walking through molasses. He knew what this was like thanks to one of his father's training ideas, though the candy factory manager was less then pleased to find a twelve year old doing katas in the storage tub.

Putting that aside, Ranma managed to open his eyes slightly and took in the ceiling above him. It was one he recognized well. He had been inside Doctor Tofu's office enough that the plain white panels of the ceiling were old friends to him.

"Looks like your friends were a little rougher then usual, Ranma," said Tofu as he walked in and saw that the young Saotome was awake.

Ranma grunted, "Hi Doc. No, this was a whole new jerk. Some nut that made Kuno look progressive and Ryoga look weak. How bad did he mess me up?"

"One broken rib, three ribs were cracked, and major bruising all across your chest," Tofu replied as he sat down next to the bed. "I did what I could, and then let you rest. You've been out for about a day now." Ranma nodded and was about to get out of bed, but the doctor laid a hand on him and stopped him. "You may heal fast, but you're still in bad shape. I want you to stay put till morning before I even think about letting you go."

"Fine," Ranma sighed. In truth it had hurt to sit up, but there was no need to let that show. "Did Akane bring me here?"

Tofu's eyes narrowed, "No, she didn't. I was called downtown after the fight ended to see to the injured. I found you being loaded into an ambulance headed to the hospital. I took charge of you there. I figured you would prefer that."

"Yeah, thanks Doc," Ranma said, his voice flat.

"I called the Tendo's," Tofu added, "Akane said you were probably faking to get sympathy from your other fiancées."

Ranma growled low, his hand tightening on the metal rail of his hospital style bed until it started to bend.

"I take it things are not going well on the homestead," Tofu said softly.

Ranma grunted noncommittally, and the doctor took that as his cue to leave.

"Why doesn't she like me," Ranma asked the ceiling, "Why?"

**********

Setsuna looked at the wall across the street from her one more time and wondered if this was a good idea. She had used Ami's computer to track down the Polaris energy signal once more, and had followed it to this compound in Nerima.

The sign out front was very odd, 'Tendo School of Indiscriminate Grappling, Challengers wishing to engage in savage combat please use side entrance.'

She had asked a few people in the neighborhood about the dojo, and they had simply shook their heads and muttered about insurance premiums. That is except for the old lady on the corner that had ignored her and threw a ladle of water in her face.

Then there was the fact that the place was simply giving her all kinds of hibi-jibis.

The building seemed to rest on some kind of temporal knot, and for the last few minutes she had been trying to catch even the slightest hint of the future. But as she saw herself enter the compound everything went wild and a million and one possibilities sprung up for every step past the threshold.

Finally, with one last glance down at the Mercury Computer to make sure that this was indeed the right place, Setsuna collected herself, slid the borrowed computer back into her purse, and walked into the Tendo compound.

A few moments after knocking on the doorway, a teenage girl with brown hair in a bowl cut and a wary expression answered.

The girl glanced up and down Setsuna and asked, "Picking up or dropping off?"

The time Senshi blinked and responded, "I beg your pardon?"

"Either you're here for Ranma," The girl said, still evaluating the smartly dressed woman, "or you're dropping off a debt that Mr. Saotome owes someone. You're too well dressed to be the usual love sick loony that Ranma attracts, so I'd guess you have a daughter that Genma conned you into engaging to Ranma, or the fat panda conned you out of a pile of money. If it's the former, the line forms behind my sister and goes around the block, twice. If it's the latter, Genma hasn't had dime one since he got here, so forget it."

Setsuna was rather flustered, "I think you are jumping to conclusions here, and being rather rude about it. I don't know a Ranma or a Genma, so I would be grateful for an apology, miss."

The teen shrugged her shoulders and said nothing, simply waiting for Setsuna to get to the point or leave. The disguised Pluto glared at the rude girl for a moment, and then finally spoke, "I'm looking for a girl, perhaps a little younger then you. She would be about this tall," Setsuna held her hand at shoulder level. "She would have white hair and is very athletic."

"Five thousand yen please," the teen smiled and stuck out her hand.

"I see," Setsuna said coldly and turned on one heel, walking away from the compound before her temper got the better of her. Once she was away she muttered to herself, "I think I'm going to have to be a little less enigmatic to the Princess. I really hope I don't sound like that."

As she turned the corner she pulled out the Mercury computer once more and flipped it open. Taking a deep scan of the Tendo household she was surprised by the many threads of magic that seemed to be tangled there. Dark magic and chaotic energy seemed to swamp the area, and for a time she wondered if it was some kind of remnant of the Dark Kingdom, but all the power was residual, as it spells, curses and items of power had been used there at times instead of a true presence.

There was also a slight trace of ancient Senshi power here, almost buried in the background noise, and it was that trace that had drawn her initially. Now that she was closer she saw that the signal was not stationary, as it would be in an item or a one time spell.

"She must have been reincarnated here after all," Setsuna muttered to herself as she panned the small computer around, looking for a stronger signal. Suddenly she snapped the magical device closed and started off.

It had picked up the trace once more, and it was coming from only a few blocks away. Setsuna turned on one heel, clicking the computer closed once more and began walking.

**********

Ranma hadn't moved in hours. He wasn't asleep, far from it. He was going over things in his mind, the one place he actually had any privacy.

It was becoming more and more apparent that he simply was not meant to be happy. He knew, theoretically, what happiness was, he had even seen it in some of his classmates. But looking back, Ranma had to admit that he had not been happy for years now.

Unless we were talking about food, he was actually content on that front.

Unless Akane cooked, no one was happy then.

He realized that he was losing focus and tried to delve back into his meditations.

He was in a real bind, especially with the whole fiancée thing. After all he knew that a happy relationship seemed to make people feel good, at least it did with some of the stable, non-martial artist couples at school. A happy relationship seemed not to involve hitting, yelling, clubbing, pummeling, beating, or any of the other ings he had been on the receiving end of for over a year now.

When he had asked one of other guys at school about it, they had looked at him funny and simply told him, "Most guys would love to have a bunch of hot girls after them. But then again, most girls are quite as…well…homicidal as the ones after you."

Ranma really couldn't think of a counter to that one.

Glancing out the window and sighing, Ranma came to the conclusion that no matter what he did, he would always be trapped. He had tried to follow his father's guidance, but that was a dark road to nowhere. He had attempted to live by his own values, but no one seemed to share them.

Ranma had the fleeting thought that his mother's blade may be the only way out, but shook his head at that. It was running away, not from honor or duty, but from his own beliefs, that no matter what, life was worth living.

His eyes gazed far into the sky, taking in cloud shapes and, pain aside, simply enjoying a rest in a comfortable bed. He let his sight drift, and it came downward to the trees along the far side of the road. A leaf came loose in the breeze and began to fall, swaying back and forth in the wind.

He felt that the leaf was a good analogy for his life, pushed by whatever wind came along, but still able to fly riding the currents to land safely. He just hoped that his final landing would be as soft as the leaf's.

It was then that the leaf passed in front of a woman standing on the sidewalk across the way. She stood out here in Nerima, not due to her long dark green hair; such things were common when you had Chinese Amazons in the neighborhood. It wasn't her red eyes either; demons, psychics and other everyday people had much odder eye colors.

The fact that she was in a business suit holding a palmtop computer in a town of martial artists, loonies, and the ever odd, that was what made her stand out.

She just looked too damn normal to be here.

Then their eyes met and Ranma took it all back.

The depth of pain and loss almost swallowed him as he looked into her eyes, but there was a glint there as well, as if he should recognize her, but didn't. It was an odd feeling that they had met once before.

Outside, Setsuna looked up from the Mercury computer as a leaf crossed her line of sight, and in the window of a clinic across form her was a young man looking out at her, blue eyes focused on her like a laser. Glancing down again she saw that the Polaris signal was coming from this young man, and she knew that this was about to become difficult.

Nodding to herself, Setsuna closed the computer one last time and headed into the clinic. She was met almost at once by a young man in a dark gi coming out from the back, a cup of tea in one hand and a clipboard in the other.

"Can I help you Miss," he asked politely.

Setsuna smiled lightly, putting on her business persona, "I'm actually here to see the young man in your care. A former client of mine left instructions to contact him in the event of certain things came to pass. I'd like to speak with him, if I may."

The man nodded, "I'm Ranma's doctor, Tofu. I hope that this isn't about a betrothal or any deal Genma Saotome has made. I think Ranma is at his wit's end with these incidents."

Setsuna took this in quickly and answered the doctor, "Oh no, nothing of that nature. My client passed away several years ago and left me to check in on a few people of interest to her. It's a matter of courtesy, nothing more."

Tofu smiled and gestured with his clipboard, "Right this way then. I'm sure Ranma will be happy to see someone that isn't out to marry, or kill him."

Setsuna blinked at this, but remembered what little she had been able to see of Polaris' new life. Conflict seemed to rage around the young man, but at least now she could help him.

Ranma took in the woman that walked into his room. She was, he had to admit, rather attractive. She looked to be in her mid twenties and the suit fit her nicely, showing long legs and fitting her figure nicely. After all, Ranma had spent enough time around the female form, in one way or another, to know when someone was dressed up or just simply looked good.

This green haired woman was definitely the latter.

"So," he began, "how have I, or my old man, ruined your life?"

Setsuna shook her head, "It's nothing like that, Ranma. Can I call you by your name?" At Ranma's nod she continued, "Years ago I worked for a very important woman. She passed away, and it was part of my duty to look in on a few people from time to time."

The young man was slow to respond, but eventually answered, "Ok, so what does that have to do with me?"

"Everyone else I was supposed to keep tabs on has been accounted for," Setsuna said. Then she added with a little embarrassment, "I wasn't able to keep tabs on you due to your rather nomadic lifestyle." At Ranma's wince she continued, "It wasn't until just today that I was finally able to locate you."

"So, we've met before," The young man asked.

The red eyed woman nodded. Ranma mulled this over, but still wasn't able to place her, or anyone else that would have taken such an interest in him after so many years, even after dying.

"What's the catch?" Ranma asked in a tired voice.

"Pardon?"

He gave the woman a hard look, "No matter what happens, someone always wants something from me. Revenge, marriage, whatever, everyone needs their pound of flesh. So what do you want? How are you going to try and make my day worse?"

Setsuna was stunned by the venom, and pain, in the young man's voice and realized just how badly she had messed up. Not only was she unable to shepherd the lost soul of a friend, but apparently her inability to keep tabs on him had left him vulnerable to unforeseen events. She mentally cursed her own unpreparedness and sat down next to Ranma's bed.

Taking a deep, cleansing breath, she started, "I honestly don't know what to say to you. I hardly know anything about you and this has left me less then ready to execute my duty. I'd like to start by asking a question."

Ranma nodded for her to continue.

"Do you believe in magic?"

Ranma blinked, and despite his still aching chest burst into a fit of laughter. It continued for a moment, and only intensified when he looked over and saw the green haired woman's questioning gaze. Finally, wincing as the last of the laughter escaped him, Ranma took up a glass of water that was sitting on the table next to the bed and upended it over his head.

"You could say I do," the buxom redhead girl answered.

**********

"I did not faint," Setsuna grumbled from the bed across from Ranma.

The redhead chuckled once more at the older woman's complaint. "If it's any consolation, you did better then a lot of people when they see that kind of thing. At least you didn't try and do an exorcism, or attack me for no reason, or squeeze me…"

The Time Guardian saw the grimace on Ranma's face and knew that there was a story there. Then she realized that there was more then one story here, in fact there were countless stories that she did not know about the life of the redhead in the next bed. How did she end up changing like that? Why were her eyes full of resignation and hopelessness? What had this girl…boy been through?

"Ranma," Setsuna said quietly, "What would you say if I told you that I knew you from a previous life?"

The girl smirked, "I'd say that you shouldn't let my fiancées hear you. That's probably the best pick up line I've heard this year."

Setsuna threw her a questioning glance, but go no response.

She continued, "Millennia ago there was a magic kingdom ruled by a kind queen. Her greatest act of kindness was taking in the survivors of a lost world. Among them was a guardian of great skill who fought to protect her people. She was brave, noble, courageous and strong, and a good friend. She gave her life to help others, and was reborn in this time. I'm hoping that you are her, reincarnated."

Ranma smirked, "Not likely. I'm a guy, no matter what. I'm not some girl, no matter how good she was in some fairytale kingdom."

"I get the feeling that I missed more then a little when I was searching for you," Setsuna admitted weakly. "I don't suppose you could fill me in?"

Ranma snorted, "You sound like you're not used to being out of the loop." The green haired woman confirmed this and Ranma continued, "All right, what the hell. I can tell this story in my sleep by now anyway. It all started when my ol man wanted to take me on this stupid ten year training trip…"

**********

"…and Happosai decided to drink the whole thing down. Poof, no more cure. I think it all went downhill from there. Since then Akane has been making me apologize for anything and everything, whether it was my fault or not. Not that she didn't really do that before. She's just being sneaky about it now, like she enjoys watching me squirm or something."

During the story, Setsuna had sat up and was staring blankly at the redhead. She had to constantly remind herself that she had seen the very odd before in her long life, but Ranma's story stretched even her ability to believe.

The young…man…had been through more in sixteen years then she had her entire life, and even she wasn't sure how old she was anymore. She could see elements of her comrade in the blue eyes of Ranma, the strength and spirit were there. The problem was that the love had been all but beaten out of him…her…whatever.

It was as if Ranma's father had deliberately broken down the youth in the most callous and uncaring way possible.

It was a rare thing, and only a few individuals in all of history had accomplished it, but a truly monstrous event had just occurred.

Genma Saotome had just made Sailor Pluto's shit list.

"So you see," Ranma continued, "I don't think I'm this dead girl you're looking for. I really don't believe in that reincarnation voodoo anyway."

"I don't know," the green haired woman said. She slipped open a compact she had pulled from nowhere, Ranma believed it was similar to the Hidden Weapons style, and activated the mini computer inside. After tapping a few keys she once more looked at Ranma and spoke.

"Setting aside the massive amount of life energy you give off due to your constant martial training, there is also the matter of the large magical energy reading around you. No doubt your curse plays into this, but there is simply too much charged mana in you. And much of that is decidedly similar to the signature of the girl I was talking about. I have to tell you that magic is by no means an exact thing, but it is looking very likely that you are her."

Ranma shock her head, "Great. I have people trying to 'nicely' get me to be male as much as possible, and now you come along and say I should be a girl after all. I suppose you want something more from me."

Ranma's resigned statement was the last straw, and Setsuna made a decision, one that she just knew was going to bite her in the ass later.

"No," she said as she swung her legs down and got up from her bed. "No, I don't want anything from you. I may have before, but now…" She paused, "You have been through so much, and I have no right to force you into anything else. If I'm right, and you are the new life of my old friend, then all I can say is that I am sorry. I failed you when I wasn't able to help you to a better life in this time."

Now it was Ranma's turn to be surprised, "But you said…"

"It doesn't matter," Setsuna said with conviction. "Even if I did bring you back, the Princess would never forgive me for putting another weight on your shoulders. It isn't fair how much you carry as it is." She reached into her purse and took out a card, handing it to Ranma. "I know it may not seem like much, but if you ever need to talk I can be contacted at this number, day or night. I was friends with Polaris, and I'd like to be your friend as well, and I won't dishonor her by imposing on you."

"Thanks," Ranma said awkwardly, looking down at the card. "Nice to have someone that gives a crap. I just wish I knew why you were doing all this. I still don't really get it." The redhead looked away for a moment, "Just, thanks."

But Setsuna was already gone.

Ranma blinked at the space that the tall woman had just occupied, and wondered just what kind of person could disappear into thin air without her noticing. Only Happosai and Cologne seemed to be able to do that, and there was no way that Setsuna was as far along as they were.

Was there?

**********

"Damn me for a sentimental fool," Setsuna grumbled in front of the Time Gates.

She now had an accurate temporal trace on Ranma, and could track his life backwards, filling in the blanks in her knowledge and confirming his story. And now, watching the young man's life it took all her will to throw her duty and oath away and go back in time, stealing baby Ranma from the Saotomes.

She didn't think the Princess would even object in the slightest.

But Temporal Law held, even if a convenient bottle of Jack Daniels didn't.

Sailor Pluto had just gotten to the last few days of Ranma's life, and saw the young man's battle with the red knight, War. She sat back in nothingness in front of the Gate and marveled at Ranma's skill.

She took another slug of whisky and looked back to see the immediate future, a brief glimpse of what was to come, and the bottle fell from her hands.

Forcing the alcohol from her system, Setsuna teleported herself back into the time stream into the house she shared with the other Outer Senshi.

"Everyone," she called out, knowing the three other soldiers here in the house, "we need to go, now! The enemy is back, and it's War in Nerima!"

To be continued…

Endnote: Pluto made her decision, but now it's Ranma's turn. How will Nerima react, and how will the Senshi? All that and a bag of chips next time. Until then, be copasetic.


	6. Closed Circuit

The shops of the Furinkan area were once more under siege, but this time there was a difference. The long time defender of the area was out of action at the moment, and shop owners knew that anytime a stupidly powerful foe came around, and Ranma wasn't there to control things, property damage skyrocketed and property values plummeted.

War stood in the middle of an intersection and watched as his troops for this attack, the strange imp like creatures his master used, spread out to harvest as much life energy as could be collected. But they were not his concern.

His red helmet swept the streets, searching for a red headed girl with dynamic fighting ability, or her other form, the pig tailed martial artist who had shown great skill for a simple human.

War sought this challenge, and would have even without his master's blessing.

His musings were interrupted when a sphere of blue-green power landed among his troops, destroying a few and scattering more. Looking up he saw four figures on the rooftops, three of which were obviously armed. He even heard the tall, green haired one speak.

"Don't give him any leeway; he is at least as strong as the one we faced before."

"Well advised," War called out, "but my power and the power of Famine are two different things. She was created to feed on lesser life forms; I was bred to destroy them." He brandished his gigantic sword, "Now come. Come and know the true power of War."

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 6

Closed Circuit

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

Pluto and Saturn dove from the roof, spinning their staff and glaive respectively. Landing among the brown skinned creatures swarming the street the Guardian of Time and the Senshi of Death and Rebirth lashed out, their enchanted weapons striking with precision.

The Garnet Orb at the end of Sailor Pluto's Time Key staff flashed a pale light as it impacted with each creature, creating a temporal knot that tore the minion apart, banishing it back to nothingness. The Silence Glaive was even more effective, dispelling each creature with a single cut. Both moved with simple grace through the ranks of the enemy, keeping the horde away from the populace.

Uranus and Neptune also leapt down, but their mission was to engage War directly. Neptune's second blast flew in, but the Deep Submerge was blocked by War's sword, and Uranus charged in, Space Sword held high for an overhand chop.

The crimson knight shifted his stance and moved forward, the hilt of his sword impacting with the sandy haired Senshi's stomach. The wind was completely knocked out of Uranus' lungs, and she found herself heaved backwards, landing twenty feet from the warrior she was supposed to have attacked.

"Pathetic," War said, "A strike like that gives power, but leaves you open. You do not know how to wield that sword you wave around. Go, find me a real challenge. Bring me Polaris!"

Pluto almost froze at that. The enemy knew somehow, and seemed to have an interest in the reincarnated Senshi. This changed the nature of this battle instantly.

Nodding to Saturn, Pluto spun in place bringing her staff in contact with the Silence Glaive as the two of them called out, "Chrono Typhoon."

The whirlwind of destruction that the combined attack unleashed made short work of the remaining imps and Pluto wasted no time in charging in with her Time Key spinning in front of her. Behind her Saturn ran to Uranus' side as Neptune moved to protect her downed partner as the youngest of the Outers began using her healing powers.

Pluto had no doubt that the knight before her was stronger then she was, physically speaking, but untold years of training had given the Guardian of Time more then a few tricks.

Ducking under a horizontal slash from War, Sailor Pluto stilled her staff, blunt end aimed at the warrior's knee. The impact of enchanted artifact with red armor was hard, and while the knee did not buckle as she had hoped, it did move the knight back slightly, causing him to shift his balance. But before she could capitalize on the attack he had already spun his massive blade behind his back and brought it down in an off hand strike that Pluto was just barely able to dodge.

Quickly Pluto brought her staff up horizontally in front of her, blocking an upward slash of the sword as War shifted to a two handed grip. Pluto was knocked back by the shear impact of the strike and flipped upwards and back to absorb the blow. On landing she dodged sideways, spinning on one boot heel as War thrust forward, the tip of his weapon almost grazing the magical bodysuit of her Senshi uniform.

She continued her spin, using the momentum and both hands to slam the Time Key, knocking War out of his attack for a moment and leaving him open to a hard kick that pushed him back once more.

Quickly bringing the Key in close, Pluto whispered, "Dead Scream."

At close range the red knight could not dodge the attack, and it was followed a second later by an almost screamed, "Deep Submerge!" The Blue orb of magic water added to the damage and the crimson knight, War, crashed into a storefront, raising a massive cloud of debris.

Pluto looked back to see an angry Neptune backing her up as Sailor Saturn helped Uranus to her feet. While the blond member of the Outers looked a little shaken, Pluto was glad to have her upright again.

"That takes care of him," Neptune said simply turning to check on her partner.

Suddenly Pluto felt the hair on the back of her neck stand out, and moved to block the coming blow as War cleared the smoke; his armor not even scratched, and heaved a large chunk of masonry at the off guard Senshi of water.

The stonework struck the Time key as Pluto got it up just in time, but the impact made her arms shake and go numb as it was deflected away. Neptune heard the metallic clang and turned back to face War as the knight charged, his sword already spinning to attack.

Pluto was out of place and off balance, Uranus was still weak, and Neptune was caught flat footed.

Fortunately they had a fourth.

Drawing on training from a life long gone, Saturn leapt forward, Glaive humming with power as the bladed tip dug into pavement and twisted upwards, the flat striking War's claymore. The tiny Saturn put all her power into the blow, and even with her small frame she wielded the very forces of Life and Death, so the counter had considerable weight behind it.

As the blade was blocked Saturn jumped, using the impact point as a pivot and lashed out with a hard kick to the head. She then pulled her pole-arm away and used War's head as another pivot, kicking off and launching herself into the air. At the apex of her magically assisted leap she brought her blade down and cast her weakest, and most useful spell.

"Silence Wall!"

The shimmering purple barrier appeared below her as she began her descent, and War was forced to dive backwards to avoid the impact of the offensively used defensive spell. The wall snapped and sizzled as it touched the ground where War had stood, disintegrating the pavement and leaving a darkened crater as it faded.

War was bringing his sword around to strike Saturn, but had to pull it upright to deflect another attack as Pluto jumped over her teammate and lashed out with a spinning strike. He had to take a step further back when Saturn rolled under Pluto and pulled the Glaive around hard to try and take him off at the knees.

The two Senshi weapon wielders moved in concert, attacking and defending alternately, forcing War into a purely defensive stance as he continued to give ground to them.

Despite their success, Pluto knew it was only a matter of time now. Saturn was pulling on the last of her reserves, and even with the training Polaris had given her before The Fall she was at her limit. They would have to end this soon.

War suddenly jumped backwards and got some breathing room away from the Senshi, but instead of retreating, or preparing to go on the offensive, the red knight began to laugh.

It wasn't a laugh of manic evil, or even a gloating laugh. It was a laugh of enjoyment.

He finally controlled his mirth and spoke, "Ah, this is what I seek. The destruction, the chaos, our lives hanging by a thread. Do you feel it? Your blood pumping, your breath quickening. This is the glory of battle. This is the challenge I seek. Show me more, students of Polaris' ways."

Saturn blinked and looked up at Pluto, "How does he know who trained us? That was thousands of years ago in another life."

"There is more going on here then we know," the Guardian of Time answered, "and I for one do not like the coincidence it represents."

Wasting no more words, the two moved to attack once more.

**********

"May I come in, Ranma?"

He had just returned to his birth form, and it was the last voice he was expecting given where he was, but Ranma could never say no to Kasumi.

"Yeah, come on in."

She entered his room to find him sitting up in his bed at the clinic, giving him a small smile. Closing the door behind her she moved to sit down next to Ranma's bed and placed a small covered plate on the table next to him.

"I figured that you would be awake by now. And Doctor Tofu said you were back here…before he grabbed Betty and headed for the river." The last was said with a hint of exasperation, but Kasumi quickly covered it up. That didn't stop Ranma from snorting at the young woman's seemingly endless patience.

"I'd tell you to just try an Amazon Glomp Tackle with him," Ranma said jokingly, "but it never works on me."

"No fair teasing," the eldest Tendo sister chided, "especially when the one you are teasing brought you cookies."

Ranma instantly wiped the amusement from his face and bowed as much as he could, "Oh Great Cookie Provider, please forgive this humble one."

Now it was Kasumi's turn to giggle at Ranma's antics as he eyed the covered plate. She opened it, revealing a small pile of chocolate chip cookies and handed the plate over to Ranma who set upon them as only a Saotome could. Halfway through them he slowed down, stopping with a cookie halfway to his mouth as he contemplated it.

"You know," he said quietly, "I really enjoy these cookies." Kasumi smiled, but his expression said that this was more then praise. "I don't get to do that much, you know? Enjoy something, I mean. I haven't had a good day in a while now. I can't just go out for a quiet walk without someone trying to kill me. I can't go camping without it being some kind of training trip or quest or something. My friends at school only stick around so they can ogle my girl type."

He took a deep breath and admitted something that shocked Kasumi, "I don't even get much enjoyment from the Art as I used to. It used to be something special, something worthwhile. Now it's just a way to keep all the assholes in my life from beating the hell out of me. I want…I don't even know anymore."

Kasumi looked at the defeat in Ranma's posture and almost let herself cry for this poor boy. It took all she had not to take the almost empty plate, go home, and cave Genma's head in with it.

She suddenly took a deep breath, reached over, and bopped Ranma on the head.

"That's enough," she said sternly. Ranma's eyes shot up as he took in the unexpected frown that had appeared on Kasumi's face. She continued, "I know it's rough right now, and believe me when I say I know perfectly well how it feels to have your life steered away from your control. But you have an option. You are skilled, adaptive and resourceful. And you are smarter then anyone around here gives you credit for. If your life is really falling apart, then it is up to you, and no one else, to rebuild it in whatever way you can."

Ranma was wide eyed, "But what about my Pops, or Mom, or Akane and the others?"

"Forget them," Kasumi said with conviction. "You need to make your life yours again. You need to find the enjoyment you lost. Whether it's in martial arts or something new is entirely up to you."

"But the engagements…"

Kasumi shook her head, "You know as well as I do that they will never work. You and Akane simply are not made for each other. You see Ukyo as a friend, or even a sister. And Shampoo? You know you'd never be happy back in China with the Amazons. You need to find your own path."

Ranma tried again, "But honor demands…"

"Whose honor? Theirs? How many times have our fathers, or any of those girls, stooped to tricks or cons to get you? In my opinion you are the only one left with honor in this miserable situation."

Ranma was stunned my Kasumi's declaration. Not because of its content, he had been thinking along those very lines lately, but because it had come from Kasumi herself. She had always been the calm one, the young woman who was always in control of her emotions.

Sometimes he forgot just how tough she was; after all she had to put up with her father and two sisters long before he came along.

Now because of her he had confirmation on his own suspicions. He frowned, and lowered his head, fighting down a wave of depression that would rival Ryoga and tried to force back the emotions that had been building up within him since the failed wedding. Since even before that.

Kasumi looked sadly down at the boy, and right now, despite his awesome power that was all he was. But she did not feel pity for him. She knew that if she did he would never forgive her.

Instead she felt affection, worry, concern, and a small hint of pride in the fact that this boy was now getting ready to face his truly greatest challenge. He was becoming a man in his own way.

She wondered for a moment if this is what her own mother had felt about her before passing. Had she made the woman who had shaped her life proud?

Kasumi saw that Ranma's emotional wall was about to break, and decided that her mother would be proud as she acted. She pulled Ranma into a hug. Not one of a lover, or even a sister, but of a mother comforting her child. And with that comfort Ranma was finally able to let go of over a decade and a half of sadness, anger, frustration and disappointment.

In moments, Kasumi's dress shoulder was soaked with tears, but she did not care. She had been right only a few days ago when she felt that she had been more of a mother to Ranma then Nodaka Saotome. She could have been sad about that, but she didn't care, right now her son needed her, and the rest of her family could go hang itself.

Finally Ranma's silent tears and quiet shudders ended, and he moved away from Kasumi, feeling like a great weight was lifted from his shoulders. For a moment he panicked at the idea of what he'd done, but then he looked into Kasumi's face and saw something he had never seen before.

Acceptance.

Still, he felt embarrassed by his outburst, and clinging on to the Tendo girl. He blushed and started to stammer out, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"

"Nonsense," Kasumi said with a smile. "You needed that. You've needed that for a long time, and deserve to let off a little of the pressure like that. It's been unhealthy for you, holding back so much for so long."

Ranma couldn't argue, simply because he didn't understand. Kasumi seemed to think that it was no sign of weakness, what had just happened. If his parents had been there he would have been belittled, or worse. Could this be part of what Kasumi had been trying to tell him? Was it a part of rebuilding his life?

"I…Thanks, Kasumi. I guess I really did need that," he said simply. "So what do I do next?"

Kasumi nodded and thought for a moment, "That's up to you really. I would recommend a few basic things at first. Keeping a distance from the others for one. Maybe trying to find some real friends. People who can believe in you and you can believe in as well. Your destiny is up to you to forge."

Ranma nodded, reassured but still hesitant. He knew it would take a great deal of effort to get his life back and only Kasumi seemed willing to help. Or was she the only one?

He looked over to the table by his bedside and saw the card Setsuna had left him. She had said that she would be there to talk to. She also seemed to be a lot smarter then he was. Maybe she and Kasumi could really help him start anew.

"Oh my!"

Kasumi's exclamation interrupted Ranma's musings, and he knew it was bad.

Kasumi had a scale of 'oh my' that Ranma had come to know during his stay at the Tendo's. There was the 'oh my' for when Genma had run out of bamboo shoots for the week, that was not bad. There was the 'oh my' for when one of Ranma's 'friends' had come over to play, that was annoyed bordering on irritated. Then there was the 'oh my' for when Kasumi had tried double chocolate fudge, Ranma had brought it as a thank you gift for her and the smile Kasumi had on her face after she tried it was the best one he had ever seen.

This 'oh my' was the equivalent of 'There's a fire in the barn, the cows are stampeding, the river's flooding, the stock market just nosedived, and Michel Jackson is making another album'.

It was bad, nuf' said.

Kasumi was looking out the window and Ranma could plainly see the trail of smoke heading up to the sky. It was distinctive of a large fight with property damage involved and Ranma started up his combat senses. On the edge of his range he could almost feel the rage and joy permeating the area in the direction of the smoke. He had felt this presence before and knew that people were in danger.

Swinging his legs off the clinic bed, Ranma looked around for his clothes, but Kasumi saw him and put her hands on his shoulders.

"No," she said sternly, "you are in no condition to go gallivanting around right now. You are barely healed as it is; if you get hit like that again it could do even more damage."

Ranma looked up, "Not an option, Kasumi. I have to go out there. People are in danger and who do you think is going to help them? Ryoga? He's not even around, and even if he was he wouldn't give a damn. The Amazons? Yeah, right. Akane? She'd get herself killed and you know it. I'm the only one around who can fight, and who cares. I have to go."

Kasumi sighed in defeat and lowered her arms. Ranma stood, only a hint of unsteadiness in him and moved past her to get dressed. As Kasumi heard him open the door she turned and saw the young man wearing his usual red and black, a confident smile on his face.

"Just be careful," she said softly.

Ranma nodded and left. Seconds later Kasumi saw him bounding up to the rooftops and accelerating, becoming a blur against the skyline as he charged into battle once more.

"Always the hero," she whispered, "my son."

**********

Saturn had finally run out of steam, and now Pluto was hard pressed to cover her withdrawing teammate. Uranus and Neptune had rejoined the fight, each moving to flanking positions and using ranged attacks to distract and hopefully injure War, but the big knight was inhumanly fast with his sword and avoided or deflected each magical blast.

Sailor Uranus had been discouraged from engaging in close quarters combat again, but the Space Sword was still in play as it sent slicing blasts out one after another, attempting to find the weakness in the crimson armor. It was frustrating to her, that her attacks were so ineffective, but she knew that only as a team would they be able to bring down the knight.

Sailor Neptune had attempted to use the Deep Aqua Mirror's special ability to divine a weakness as well, but the armor seemed to be one piece, forged solid and alive around War. In truth the artistic water Senshi couldn't even tell if the armor had anyone inside. And the few of her blasts that had connected had only knocked War off balance for a breath before the knight was on the attack again.

And now Sailor Pluto stood holding her Time Key staff, her arms going numb from the continual hard impacts. Saturn was behind her, falling back from close combat, and Pluto had to draw on all her considerable training, Polaris and otherwise to keep the knight from pressing his advantage.

All her skill could not, however, counter War's monstrous strength.

She was one step too slow countering a savage slash across her chest, but did manage an off balance block. The impact was enough to rattle her, lifting her off the ground and sending her flying as her staff fell from numb fingers.

As she came to a rest against a streetlight she saw War advancing on Sailor Saturn and through blurred vision and sore limb she attempted to stand once more.

Shrugging off a renewed assault from Neptune and Uranus, War rotated his body to bring his sword up. The blade glowed darkly and a crackle of energy came from it as he swung towards Neptune. The young woman was caught off guard by a blast of dark lightning that came from the sword and fell to the ground stunned.

Sailor Uranus charged in, avoiding War's backswing, and thrust sharply. For a moment Uranus felt her sword enter War's armor, but it didn't last as the knight's free arm came down on her back, knocking her into the ground.

War fingered the damage to his armor and laughed in satisfaction, "A desperate maneuver. Well played. But now it is over. None of you have the skill and strength necessary to defeat me, and it is time you paid the price." He faced Saturn once more and continued, "You have the power, and the training, and you only use one effectively. I shall finish you first as a lesson in not holding back against me."

He brought his sword up, getting ready to rain a blow down on her head. All the youngest of the Senshi could do was to hold up her Glaive in her now weak arms. She could almost feel the call of her terrible power, but she turned away from it, the cost would be too great to save her life alone.

She was resigned to her fate, and prepared for the final darkness.

War's arm came down, ready to cleave Saturn in half.

A red and black blur shot over one of the stores and landed hard on the street, blasting forward again faster then the eye could track and the blade hit Saturn.

For a moment the young Senshi sat there, impaled by the massive sword. Then her image faded away to show a long gash in the pavement and no trace of the warrior of Death and Rebirth.

"Hey, Buckethead!"

War quickly looked up and saw the young man he had faced before, still dressed in red shirt and black paints. He had Sailor Saturn cradled in his arms, her pole arm behind his back. The look of confidence was the same as the last time they had battled, but in the boy's eyes War saw something different.

Cold, hard rage.

Setting the young girl he had scooped up gently down, Ranma evaluated the situation. The four cheerleaders he had just dropped in on looked like they had been put through the wringer, but they had been fighting for a while now. War's armor was scorched, and even breached at one spot, but he was still standing tall. No real surprise there, the guy was a tank like Ryoga.

"Thank you."

Ranma was startled for a moment and looked down to see the dark purple eyes of the girl he had just saved. They were stunned, and afraid, and most frightening of all, resigned. Ranma wasn't good at reassuring girls, but for some reason he just felt comfortable with doing so here.

He passed her Glaive back to her and ruffled her hair with one hand and smiled, "No problem kiddo. Rescuing cute girls from monsters is my second best skill."

The girl asked, "What's the first?"

"Kicking ass."

Ranma stood tall and took a few steps forward, sliding into a very aggressive stance of the Anything Goes School and focused his ki, his battle aura manifesting around him as his focus became laser like on the form of War.

"Round two, asshole."

To be continued…

Endnote: Kasumi's view of Ranma is really my view on their relationship. She cares for him and takes care of him, but she never really steps up to the fiancé position in the manga. Even Nabiki takes her turn there. Instead Kasumi seems to me to represent the only real maternal figure in the series. Yes, I do have a low opinion of Nodaka, but that's only because she seems like more of a Kuno then anything else. In my worldview the idea of mother is that they love their child unconditionally and above all else, Nodaka doesn't do that. But that's just my opinion and other authors have portrayed her much more positively and with great skill and emotion. Ok, rant off. Next time, Ranma steps up and tangles with War. But will victory have a price? Until next time, may the Schwartz be with you!


	7. Inversion

Setsuna managed to shake off the last of her impact shock and saw the situation that had developed. Uranus and Neptune were off to one side, attempting to recover from their charge in to save their adopted daughter. Saturn was out of the way as well, leaning heavily on her Silence Glaive.

Her attention then shifted further down the street and for a moment she thought she was hallucinating.

Ranma stood between the Senshi and War in a low stance. Beyond the fact that the wounded young man was here was the fact that he was in a low, lose stance and glowing a bright blue.

Pluto could almost feel the power radiating off the martial artist as his aura burned brightly in daylight, and when it flared suddenly even she, the Mistress of Time, was hard pressed to keep track of him.

Ranma bolted forward, his feet barely touching the ground as he put every erg of energy into speed. Instantly he was inside War's guard and struck a hard fist to the knight's solar plexus followed by a backhand to War's sword arm. Turning as he attacked, Ranma dropped down and whipped a leg out, attempting to sweep his adversary off his feet.

War may not have been as fast, but his shear mass repelled the bulk of the attacks. He was rocked by the blows, but kept his feet and his wits as he jumped away from Ranma's sweep kick and brought his sword up in time to block a follow up jump kick that the pig tailed martial artist launched as War was recovering.

Ranma's kick landed on the flat of the blade, and the young fighter pushed off, gaining altitude and planning his next attack. He suddenly tightened into a ball in the air as War lashed out, arcs of energy shooting out from his sword and missing Ranma's smaller profile by the barest of margins.

Landing, Ranma focused hard, cupping his hands forward and concentrating his entire blazing aura into his palms where it coalesced into a blue sphere.

He shouted, "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" This released the blast, Ranma's signature move, and the ball rocketed towards War.

The red knight had seen this move before however and his blade was already in motion, but so was Ranma.

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 7

Inversion

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

War intercepted the youth's blast easily, but behind it was a pigtailed missile that landed on its hands in front of him, rolling slightly and then extending its legs in a powerful mule kick that War had no time to react to. Using his free arm, the knight managed to get his forearm in front of the kick, but the momentum of the attack still lifted him off his feet and sent him reeling back.

Ranma had the momentum now, and used it. Flipping up from his kick Ranma danced forward, hands and feet snaking out and beating a staccato against War's armored form. As he took the fight to his armored opponent, Ranma's face fell into his traditional grin.

"What's up, Tin man? I thought you were supposed to be this great embodiment of all things warrior. Can't handle a little kempo? Oh, mister Big Bad is just a tomato soup can after all."

War jumped away, a low growl escaping his helmet as he lashed out once more, a wave of energy arcing towards Ranma who dodged out of the way. In a flash they were at each other again, sword flailing in vain to catch the nimble youth as Ranma rained ineffectual blows against War's durable armor. Even through the exchange, Ranma continued his taunting.

"Come on, where was all that skill from the last time I fought you? Don't tell me a bunch of cheerleaders winded a tough guy like you. My old man can move faster then that, and he's built like a beluga whale."

Turning on one foot, the martial artist snap kicked War's head in a momentary opening. The impact was good, and turned the knight's head, but Ranma had to hide a wince as his abused ribs shot pain through his body, letting him know that he too was not at top form.

Still, he did not relent, "I could take a nap and you still wouldn't touch me with that oversized toothpick of yours."

A flare of red light came out of War's visor, and a lightning fast backhand suddenly caught Ranma flatfooted and sent him flying. He landed a good distance down the street, and had to take a moment to shake off the impact, and before he finished he saw that War was thundering after him, sword held high and crackling with dark energy.

Before Ranma could dodge, the knight struck, but the blade stopped short as a tall, sandy haired blond blocked the blade with a glowing scimitar.

"Get out of here," Sailor Uranus shouted back to Ranma as she pumped as much magic as she could into her arms. "He's too much for some kid like you!"

Recovered, Ranma shouted back, "Don't interfere in a man to man fight! Me and Buckethead have issues to settle here! And who the hell are you calling kid, you tomboy?!"

Pulling herself to her feet with the Time Key, Pluto grumbled out, "Not again." She then shouted to the two of them, "Argue later, beat the bad guy now!"

Uranus and Ranma grimaced at each other, but moved quickly. Letting War's claymore slide off her blade at an angle, Uranus spun inward and slashed out, trying to get at the weaker areas of the armor under the arm. Meanwhile Ranma slid under her attack and through War's planted feet. Coming up from behind he gathered his energy and delivered a blow to the crimson knight's back as the Space Sword nicked the dark armor.

Knocked off balance again by the strong attack, War actually stumbled into the sword cut, deepening it to the point where the Senshi could hear him cry out in pain. This however did not stop the knight as he brought his blade around again, only to be intercepted again as Neptune re-entered the fray.

"DEEP SUBMERGE!"

The ball of magically charged water impacted against War's sword and knocked it out of his hand as he was mid attack, leaving him open for Pluto's follow up.

Holding her staff close she whispered out, "Dead Scream."

The howling blast struck square, and War was sent flying back, his armor screeching in protest until he came to a stop some distance away.

For a moment there was silence on the battlefield, and Neptune and Uranus took it to go and help Saturn recover. The frail girl waved them off as she levered herself upright with the Silence Glaive. Pluto on the other hand worked her way over to where Ranma stood, his eyes fixed solidly on the downed form of War further down the street.

"Ranma," she stated quietly, "thank you for helping us. You didn't need to, and really shouldn't have in your condition. I just thought you…"

Suddenly Ranma jumped at her, pushing her down as a blast of super heated air passed through the space she had just been standing.

"Dance ain't over yet," Ranma grunted as he rolled off her and kicked up. He then added a simple, "No freaking way…"

War was standing once more, but damage was evident in the form of a gaping hole in the center of his torso. But instead of blood, of any form of organic mater, what leaked out of this wound was a black mist, curling a drifting away from the damaged form.

"Yes. Yes! YES! This is what I seek! Come, fight me! Let us descend into chaos together as War conquers all!"

Ranma pulled Sailor Pluto back up and muttered, "This guy's a total loon. He's actually getting off on all this destruction."

"We must put him down quickly," Pluto said softly, "before his madness destroys this entire area."

Ranma thought for a moment, "He's worked up enough. The four of you need to stay clear. And it would probably be a good idea to grab on to something solid, the wind is gonna pick up." With that the pigtailed youth dashed forward to reengage the wounded knight.

Meanwhile, Pluto ran to the other Senshi and ordered, "Fall back. Ranma is going to try something and needs us to stay out of the way."

"Are you kidding?" Uranus growled. "That twerp is going to get himself killed!"

However Saturn interrupted, "Is he the one you were talking about?"

"Yes."

That seemed to satisfy the youngest Senshi and she began moving away from the renewed battle.

Back in the fight, Ranma had discovered that a wounded War was even more fierce then before, and he was hard pressed to stay ahead of the lethal blade his foe had retrieved as they charged towards each other. He was at the limit of his speed as the metal edge flashed in his eyes again, and he hadn't even started his gambit yet.

He needed more speed, and there was only one way. The problem was that he knew that it would affect him adversely since his unhealed ribs would protest greatly.

Ranma had no real choice.

"Hey you, with the green hair," he shouted out, "hit me with that water thing of yours!"

Neptune gasped, "He wants me to do what?"

But Pluto instantly understood, "A low power attack, as low as you can get. He just needs to be struck with cold water. Quickly."

Neptune shrugged and took careful aim at the constantly moving martial artist. Using less energy then she ever had before, she cast her spell.

"Deep Submerge."

The small sphere of barely charged water flew through the air. The shot was wide, due to the fight's constant shifting, but Ranma saw it coming and threw himself into the blue orb's path at the last second.

What emerged from the spell's detonation shocked three of the Senshi. A short, drenched, busty redhead flipped out and landed, panting softly and holding her side.

"That…hurt like hell," the girl said as she winced. After a moment she stood upright, hiding her pain and facing War. "Ok sunshine, bring it."

"You think a change in your form will aid you," War laughed. "Your wounds reopen with the transformation, and you no longer have the strength to hurt me."

Ranma smirked and made a come-hither motion, "It's not about strength, it's about speed and skill. Sure, you're strong as an ox, but all that armor weighs you down. You could barely hit me before, now you don't have a chance. And as for skill? I'm the best, and you're just some second rate poser zombie with a huge freaking hole in his chest. I think it's pretty obvious who will win this one, don't you?"

War started in, his swings missing by a bare margin as he countered, "My power is unlimited! The more you fight, the stronger I get! As chaos spreads, War devours!"

Ranma ducked under a quick swipe, almost getting her pigtail cut off, turned slightly and taunted back, "Yada, yada. You're all talk. I know a guy just like you, except he waves around a wood sword and gets the shit kicked out of him by cheerleaders." Turning again she chuckled, "Oh, wait, so did you."

War bellowed and started a savage barrage of sword swings, "I'll take your head!"

"Others have tried, and they were a lot more powerful then you. You're just a vapor head in a soup can." Ranma continued to taunt the knight, maintaining her cool, keeping her head, and always turning to the right as she backed away from War's strikes.

Outside the battle, the Senshi watched in awe as auras started to become visible. War roared and red energy seemed to pour out of him as he was frustrated time and time again in his attempts to take down the redheaded blur before him. Ranma, however was glowing an almost white blue that left a trail of frost where she stepped.

Neptune cried out, "What is happening?"

"Cant you feel it," Saturn answered as the wind started to pick up. "She's pulling all his energy. She's dancing with it…a death dance…all his hate and anger; she's going to use it somehow."

Pluto looked down at the midnight haired Senshi of Silence and looked back up at the growing swirl of energies, "I suggest we move further back and find cover. This will not end well for us otherwise."

Uranus asked, "Do you know what it is?"

Pluto shrugged and started pulling them away, "No idea, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to be near it when it goes off."

Back in the spiral, Ranma nodded as the setup was almost finished. She only had a few more steps to take, so it was time to push the last button.

"Hey, Bronze-o! You're gonna rust before you hit me!"

"DIE!"

She took the last step, "Adios, asshole!"

"HIRYU SHOTEN HA!!!"

The blast was massive. War had been generating enough killing intent to light all of Tokyo and as his battle aura clashed with Ranma's Soul of Ice the combined ki swept upwards into a force five tornado that tore the knight off the ground and away from the young martial artist.

Ranma held her strike, fist raised in an uppercut that had crossed the ki lines. It was straining her to do so, and her ribs felt as if they were breaking once more, but she had to maintain absolute control over the force of nature she had unleashed. A few feet left or right and the Furinkan shopping district would be leveled, and she herself could be caught up in the lethal storm.

From outside the maelstrom the Outers could only stare as a dragon emerged out of the light. Glowing bright yellow, it trailed fire and ice in its wake is it shot upwards and swallowed War. With a triumphant roar the beast rose swiftly into the sky as the tempest increased in velocity around its creator.

From where they were clinging on to a cement bench for dear life, they could just barely make out the form of the young girl that had done this. Sweat poured off her brow, and her body shivered, but the redhead's fist seemed fixed to one point in the air.

The dragon roared once more and finally began to fade away. The winds died down, and the chaos around Ranma dissipated. The girl fell to her knees, gasping for air as the Senshi came out from behind cover.

"You never said the kid could pull a Starlight and change genders on us," Uranus whispered to Pluto. "You also never said she could SUMMON FREAKING SHENLONG!"

Pluto narrowed her eyes, "This is not some anime, Uranus. That was not the Great Dragon. Our friend is a Ki Master, one of the very few in the world, and that was some kind of technique."

"Oh, I see," Saturn said as her eyes widened, "she focused her power to make it cool, and War was angry and hot. Their powers crossed and made the tornado." At her adoptive parent's stares she answered, "We're learning about weather in science class. It's how storms are formed, when hot and cold air cross."

"Ok, so that's how it's supposed to work," Uranus said, ruffling her daughter's hair, "but how the hell did that kid do it?"

"Fifteen years of shit awful training," Ranma said as she forced herself upright, "and a crazy old ghoul who loves to torment me. Now would one of you kindly tell me what is going…"

That was as far as she got as she once more collapsed to her knees and started coughing. The Outer's eyes widened in horror as splatters of blood appeared on the pavement. Pluto was there in the blink of an eye, holding the girl upright.

"Saturn, quickly! We're losing her!"

Dropping her Glaive, Saturn kneeled before the redhead and placed her hands on the weakened girl. Once contact was made she allowed her inner power to awaken, and gasped at the extent of the damage.

Ranma's injured ribs were once more cracked, and one of her lungs was punctured. Beyond that her muscles were strained severely and dark bruises started to develop on the arm she had used to unleash her final attack.

"I can't believe she went into battle already injured," the girl muttered as she focused her power on the worst of the damage.

Pluto grunted, "It's in her nature, in this life as well as the last. Polaris was always willing to sacrifice herself for others."

"So it really is her then," Neptune said. "You really did lose track of her soul, didn't you?"

Pluto glanced up and answered sharply, "Even I did not believe everything the Gate showed me about her, until I met him. Ranma has all the spirit and courage of our lost friend, as well as her stubborn nature. It doesn't surprise me in the least that he would come out here, even if he was torn into little pieces in the process."

"Damn," muttered the girl she was holding, "I must be getting a reputation."

Pluto quietly asked, "Are you all right?"

"Not even close." The redhead opened her eyes and saw Saturn ministering to her wounds, "Are you doing that?"

The smaller girl nodded, focusing on her work, but still holding her breath, waiting for the redhead's reaction, and secretly hoping it wouldn't be negative. Her healing ability had been found out in her public life, and because of it she had been labeled a freak. But this was the reincarnation of Polaris, who had been a friend and mentor. She could only hope that that would stay unchanged.

"Nice work, kiddo."

Saturn's face lit up into a smile that could rival any sun, and she resumed her work with twice the intensity.

Looking up, Ranma saw that Sailor Pluto was holding her up, and something once more tickled the back of her mind. A feeling of familiarity that she could not place.

"Do I know you?"

Pluto nodded, "In a manner of speaking. But for now you can trust that I am a friend."

Ranma frowned, "Most of my friends are out to kill me, so you'll excuse me if that doesn't make me feel any better." Pluto blanched at this, but it was Uranus that broke the moment with warm laughter.

"You always did know how to make friends. That is if you really are who Pluto says you are."

"And who am I supposed to be?"

Pluto shook her head, "Whoever you need to be. This isn't your fight any more, we will handle it."

"Now, wait a minute," Uranus countered, "you said that you'd found Sailor Polaris. And if there is some kind of fight starting up again we may need her. If this is Polaris, why are you telling her not to fight?"

"Who says you can tell me anything," Ranma fired back. "That joker came here, twice, so I figure you got involved with my fight. Besides, I walloped that clown a good one, he won't be back here for a long time."

"Are you kidding me? You are barely breathing and got your backside mopped all over the place. You've got some power, sure, but you are just a kid. We need soldiers," came Uranus' harsh answer.

"Bite me, Tomboy!"

"He-bitch!"

"SHUT UP! Both of you!"

Everyone looked to see the normally calm Neptune tapping her foot in a rapid staccato and twitching her eyebrow.

"You two don't see each other in a few millennia, and it can't be 'oh, hello Polaris. It's good to see you again', or even 'how have you been Uranus? Still practicing?' No! It's right back to bickering like a pair of drunken dockworkers! Humph!"

There was a long pause, and then Ranma managed to ask, "Is it me, or did that seem really…really familiar?"

Pluto chuckled, "Actually it does. The two of you never really got along back in the Silver Millennium."

"You're the second person to mention that," Ranma said. She winced as Saturn's healing power continued knitting her ribs back together. "I guess you're connected to her somehow? She said she didn't want me to be a part of this either."

"And did that stop you?"

Ranma snorted, "Of course not. People were in trouble. I know I'm not the brightest guy in town, but I do know that if people need help, and someone had the power to help them then the only right thing to do is to do so."

"But you hurt yourself so badly," Saturn said, her brow covered in sweat as she put the last touches on her healing efforts.

Ranma smiled at the smaller girl, "Did that stop you from getting up when that tin can knocked you down?" Saturn shook her head. "Did that stop you from pushing yourself to exhaustion trying to heal me just now?" The other Senshi's eyes widened at this.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard, you could badly hurt yourself," Neptune scolded, kneeling down next to Saturn, a mother's worry on her face.

"It's all right," Ranma said reassuringly. "I've been pushing whatever ki I can spare into her. That technique of yours is really amazing kiddo, but even with my help you're going to have a lousy morning tomorrow."

Saturn sighed, "It was worth it…as long as you are all right." With that her eyes closed and she rolled forward into Ranma's arms. Uranus and Neptune gasped, but the redhead held up a reassuring hand.

"She's just worn out, no damage done. If she had done any more then that I would have stopped her."

"Not likely," Pluto smiled, "she's just as stubborn as you when it comes to not letting her friends get hurt."

Ranma looked down at the girl leaning against her, "I really don't understand what's going on. All this stuff about past lives and magic kingdoms is a little beyond me. Sure, I've dealt with magic, and it never seems to work right for me, but you girls seem to be using it for the right reasons. I know you may not want me to help, but you're not in this fight alone anymore."

Pluto was about to tell her no again, but she looked down to see that Ranma had steel in her eyes. It was the same as when Polaris stood defiantly against hordes of creatures at the fall, and the Guardian of Time knew that there would be no dissuading Ranma from her choice.

"Sailors Neptune and Uranus can take Saturn now," she said quietly. "If you are serious about helping us, then talk to the woman who visited you earlier. She will be able to get you started. But be sure that this is what you want to do. Take time to think it over, this is not a decision you want to make rashly."

Ranma nodded and lifted Saturn up, gently handing her over to the two women. With that she looked Pluto in the eye and said calmly, "It's the duty of a martial artist to help those in need. I will not let these bastards hurt anyone else."

Sailor Pluto nodded and raised her staff. In a flash of light the Senshi teleported away, and Ranma was left standing in the middle of the deserted street.

Looking towards the center of the district, the redhead mused on this new addition to her complicated life. And the choices she would have to make in the near future.

**********

War was alive, he knew that much.

The pain was far too great to be otherwise.

"You failed."

War could not respond, not even to nod. He knew his master was angry with him, but the coldness of his voice made even the hardened warrior fearful. Almost as fearful as he had been when the blazing dragon had swallowed him moments before being teleported away.

"Twice you have been unable to defeat your foe," his master continued, "but each time you have revealed important information. First that my old acquaintance had resurfaced, and now that she is indeed more powerful than before. I am grateful."

War was relived to hear this, but his reprieve was short lived.

"And even so, you have still failed me twice. I do not tolerate this. Famine, he is yours."

And then War saw Famine's gold hand come down on his head, and he knew agony as his very being was consumed by the sorceress. His cries of agony were only counter pointed by Famine's moans of pleasure as she devoured him entirely.

Finished, the sorceress knelt before the shadowed form of her master.

"His strength is now mine," she confirmed.

"Then prepare yourself. It is now your duty to kill the last vestiges of a dead race."

To be continued…

Endnote: I'll tell you, I'm actually in trouble here. The muse has told me she's working fewer hours, and she gave me the finger when I asked her to find some temp muses to fill in. But I shall not waver, this story will continue, have no doubt. Next time Ranma must face his problems at home while coming to grips with his new vocation as a defender of the Earth. Until then, FEAR THE PORK RIND!


	8. Phase Shift

Hotaru slept the sleep of the truly wiped out.

Michiru had to smile as she pulled the sheet up to the neck of her adopted daughter and the small girl snuggled in deeper under her blankets. Kissing the young warrior on the forehead, the aqua haired woman quietly turned and left Hotaru's room, closing the door softly in her wake.

Walking downstairs, she saw that Haruka and Setsuna were sitting across from each other at the kitchen table. Her lover had a frown on her face that only intensified when Setsuna developed a Cheshire grin. Sitting between the two of them, Michiru could only hope that she would be able to defuse her lover's temper without waking the exhausted Hotaru.

"Now then," Haruka asked calmly, "what the hell is going on here?"

Setsuna's smile only grew slightly, "No doubt Ranma will ask the same thing when he comes looking for answers."

Haruka did not seam fazed however, "Seriously. We need to know about this Ranma. He may allegedly be Polaris reborn, but how do we know he won't be a threat? What if this is some kind of set up or what if…"

"We can't just go on 'what if's' here," Michiru said while taking Haruka's hand. "We've gone down that road before. Every time we gave in to our paranoia it made things worse."

"Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean that someone isn't out to get us," Haruka reasoned. "How many battles have we fought where the innocent became the monstrous?"

"It is not our place to judge these things," Setsuna said simply. "I say we let the Princess meet Ranma. She has been right much more often then we have, and I believe that we need to start trusting her judgment."

After a pause she added, "Besides, you're just trying to get out of that poker debt you owe Polaris from the Queen's birthday party. You remember the one where you almost fondled…"

Haruka dove over the table, clapping a hand over Setsuna's mouth. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw her friend relent, but felt a chill from her side and turned to look into her girlfriend's eyes.

"And what happened at this party?" Michiru asked with a touch of cold in her voice.

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 8

Phase Shift

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

Ranma walked along the streets of Nerima, ignoring most of the world around him as his mind was deep in thought. It may have been uncommon for him, but he was taking a good, hard look at the last few months and really going over everything with a fine toothed comb.

Getting hot water from thankful shop owners was easy. Figuring out your life? Now that's hard.

As he trudged along, somewhat making his way towards the Tendo home, he considered the words of three women. Kasumi, who he had known for his entire stay here in Nerima, had spoken with conviction to him about honor, feelings and her view on both. She had said that he was the only one with honor left in his life, and he was starting to think she may have been right.

Setsuna, who he was still unsure of, had listened to his life and had told him he carried a burden. At first he thought that she meant his family's honor, but he was starting to think that she had meant the weight he carried was one he shouldn't have to. It was as if the strange woman had somehow felt responsible for the trouble in Ranma's life.

Finally there was Sailor Pluto and her team. They were strange, no doubt, and maybe needed a little, or a lot, of polish on their fighting style. But Ranma had felt a sense of camaraderie with them unlike anything he had felt in all the times he had teamed up with the other fighters in the area. Ryoga or Mousse would not have watched his back like they had, stepping in to block a finishing blow simply because it was the right thing to do.

Sure, Ryoga would have blocked War's sword, but he would have said something like, "No one gets to kill Ranma but me!"

Wasn't friendship wonderful?

He knew changes needed to be made. Akane was just using him as a scapegoat for all her shortcomings, and she seemed to enjoy it far too much. Shampoo wanted to hump him dry for her people, but didn't think anything about his feelings on the topic. Ukyo was in almost as bad a situation as him, and desperately clinging to him as a way to redeem her honor in her father's eyes and regain her womanhood.

Kodachi was just effing nuts, no ifs ands or buts.

Throw in parents that wanted to use him to make grandkids or retire in luxury and a pack of rivals that wanted his blood, and his maidenhood in Kuno's case, and Ranma was just about at his limit.

Reaching the Tendos, he slid open the front door and sighed. On the floor of the entryway were a pair of formal geta, and only one person regularly visited with that sort of attire. Unless you counted rich people Genma had foisted him off on over the years.

His mother.

Taking a deep breath he kicked off his shoes and started in, already hearing the noise of overlapping voices in the living room. He paused as he passed the kitchen and saw that Kasumi was in there, leaning over the sink, white knuckles gripping the edge of the counter.

"Kasumi," he asked softly.

She turned around and Ranma received the shock of his life. Kasumi was angry, no, livid. For a moment he thought that she was mad at him, but when she saw Ranma poking his head in her face transformed into one of relief. She left the counter and walked over, placing one hand on his shoulder and looking into his eyes.

She asked in a whisper, trying not to draw the attention of the people in the main room, "Are you alright?"

Nodding and sharing her low voice Ranma answered, "I'm ok. I took care of the problem with a little help and I'm feeling much better." Kasumi nodded and a smile crossed her face. He continued, "So what's going on in there?"

Kasumi's smile vanished and her eyes took on a hard edge, "When your mother arrived things started to get out of control again. Akane was yelling about you shacking up with another girl, even though I had told her you were at the clinic all day yesterday, and the day before. Your mother started cheering for grandbabies, your father started harping about the pledge, and it all went to hell from there."

Ranma was doubly shocked, first at the fact that Kasumi had all but swore right in front of him, and secondly over what she had said.

He asked, "When did you tell them where I was?"

"As soon as I had found out."

Ranma looked down, his own anger rising, "Two days, they knew for two days and not one of them aside from you visited. Akane was there. She was there when I went down the first time, and she didn't come."

"Ranma," Kasumi said softly and squeezed his shoulder. "I…"

Ranma shock his head, "No, Kasumi, don't worry about it. I guess I should have expected as much. I'm going to go in there now. Please don't come in, it's going to be bad." And with that he turned away and started down the hall.

In the few steps it took to get to the living room he had refocused himself and was tapping into the very edge of the Soul of Ice. He knew that he would need the calm mental state and clarity of thought to get through the next few minutes.

It didn't even take two seconds after he entered the living room before the yelling started.

"Where have you been?" Akane shouted. "No, wait, I already know. You were off with one of your floozies, weren't you?!"

Genma added his two cents, "Have you no honor boy?! How can you be so disrespectful to your loving fiancé?"

"Loving?! Why would I love that jerk? He's always running around trying to do perverted things with those…those…HUSSIES!"

Ranma felt the Soul of Ice drop a few more degrees. At Mount Phoenix it had been so clear, but it wasn't the truth. He may have loved her, but she could never accept him. He was an excuse, and she enjoyed venting her anger at him.

"Now Akane, there is nothing wrong with someone as manly as my son seeking out appropriate mistresses," Nodoka Saotome chimed in. "After all, don't you want to share in the joys of motherhood with those who love your husband to be as much as you?"

The Soul of Ice was now approaching freezing.

"WHAT?!" Soun Tendo was on his feet, the ki projection of a demonic head hovering over the table, "HOW DARE YOU DEFILE MY LITTLE GIRL!"

Frost started forming around Ranma's feet.

"I wouldn't let that sick freak touch me," Akane swore to her father, glaring at Ranma. In her arms a small black piglet nodded, his beady eyes promising Ranma a world of pain for even thinking such a thing.

Genma started in again, "Oh the shame! If only I had been a better father, I wouldn't be cursed with such a disrespectful son. Throwing away all honor and the future of the Anything Goes School. Ungrateful boy!"

Ranma took all this in, not saying a word. He turned his gaze to the end of the table where Happosai sat on his stack of pillows, a mug of tea in his hands. Tilting his head, Ranma silently asked if the old master was going to add his two cents worth.

Happosai, for once stayed quiet. The ancient pervert knew from the waves of cold ki that Ranma was on his very last nerve. Now, he was a pervert, and a thief, and a liar, but no one ever doubted Happosai's innate ability to survive anything. Ranma was tired, angry, sad, disappointed, and feeling abandoned. Happi took all this in, and for once made the correct decision.

He shut the hell up.

Nabiki, who normally would have pushed the situation further, had already been chewed out by Kasumi of all people. So she took the old master's rather enlightened approach as well and kept out of this.

Not seeing the illuminated path, it was Akane who got the last dig in.

"I'd rather die then marry this jerk!"

"Really?"

It may have just been a whisper, but it stopped all the talking in the room.

Ranma continued, "I guess I never should have gone to China to save you then. Or saved you all those times when Toma, Kirin, Mousse, Taro, or even Ryoga almost killed you or married you. I guess I never should have cared about you at all. I guess I never should have KILLED Saffron to save your life."

Ranma had to take a breath to regain his control.

His mother took this opportunity to speak, "Son, that was very rude. You should apologize to Akane for that outburst."

"Why? She isn't interested in the marriage that you all have been pushing for. She just said she would rather die. I was asking if the last year of my life and everything I've done have been a total waste or not."

Nodoka exclaimed, "Ranma! How can you say such things? I thought my son was well mannered and caring? What has brought this terrible rudeness about?"

"I've been in a coma for two days. Tends to give a guy time to think when no one bothers to check on me at the clinic." Stunned silence met his remark.

Nodoka asked, "How? What were you doing in a clinic?"

Ranma looked over at Akane, "She knows. She saw me fight that psycho that was attacking people downtown. She was so grateful for me saving her life yet again that she left me for dead, bleeding out in the middle of the street."

"Oh, you just were overreacting," Akane countered. "You were just trying to get attention. You always act that way so you can get attention. You probably got up and shacked up with Shampoo as soon as I left."

Ranma shook his head, "Three ribs cracked, one broken, and more besides. Don't believe me? Ask Doc Tofu. He cared enough to get me patched up, unlike my 'loving' family or 'caring' fiancé. I wonder if any of you even thought to check when Kasumi told you where I was." Seeing their blank reactions he snorted, "I thought so. She told you and you just figured I'd come back on my own, ready for the next round of 'Pound on Ranma'. I can just feel the love here."

"Enough Ranma," Genma shouted, "you must apologize this instant for your bad attitude. Then we can move on to preparing the wedding and securing the family honor."

Nodoka nodded, "Your father is right. You must accept responsibility for your actions dear. To do otherwise is very unmanly."

Happosai suddenly looked down and saw his tea had frozen over. His eyes widened and started darting around, looking for a way out. When he saw Ranma's eyes he managed to whisper only loud enough for Nabiki to hear.

"Oh, fudge nuggets…"

Ranma calmly walked over to his parents and looked his mother in the eye.

He said softly, "You are right, I need to fix this." Nodoka looked very pleased at this and he continued, "Can I see the family honor blade for a moment?" This drew a round of gasps. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill myself. I just need to show you something."

Reluctantly Nodoka handed over the wrapped blade and Ranma took it up carefully, almost reverently. He walked past his father, who almost wet himself at the feelings flowing off his son, and for a moment feared that the boy would take his life. The moment passed when Ranma moved to stand on the porch and turned back to face them.

Gently unwrapping the blade, he placed the cloth aside and drew the blade. His eyes inspected every inch of the shining metal and noticing no imperfections.

"This sword is supposed to represent the honor of the Saotome clan," he said, "but there is a problem. This blade is finely made, with no faults and showing a true and clean edge. It doesn't properly represent the family honor."

Reversing his grip and using both hands Ranma held the blade pointing downward and suddenly drove it into the hardwood of the porch, almost to the hilt. With a sudden tensing of muscles and a jerk to the right Ranma used his considerable strength to snap the blade, that handle coming clean off in his hands.

He looked up to see a room full of wide and unbelieving eyes and saw that his mother was halfway out of her sitting position, a hand reaching out to stop him. He simply stood and looked on the now broken sword handle.

"Now it's a perfect reflection of the Saotome honor, and I wash my hands of it."

With that he tossed the broken handle at his father's feet and started walking out of the house, heading for the side gate.

He had made it halfway across the yard when his father yelled out, "Hold it boy! What do you think you are doing? Where are you going? What's the meaning of all this?!"

"I'm finally doing what you always taught me," Ranma answered, not even turning. "I'm cutting my losses. My honor is intact, and all it cost me was a family that only cared about themselves. You've gone on and on about how disrespectful I am. Well, I never really cared before because I thought that deep down you loved your son. Now I know different. All you want is for me to solve all your problems for you."

Genma looked like he was going to argue, but Ranma ignored him. Instead he turned to face his mother who was still frozen in shock.

"I can never be what you want," He told her. "I'm not some gigolo out pumping sperm into any willing womb. I don't want to get married, to anyone, and I can't see myself as much of a father anyway. The old panda pretty much ruined that for me."

He took in all the stunned faces, Saotomes, Tendos and Master Happosai and said one last thing.

"I'm going to find my life now. I don't know how or where, but I'm going to find it. I hope that someday you'll find yours too, but I won't be in it."

He turned once more and headed to the gate. His hand made contact with the wood when a voice once more stopped him.

"So you're just running away?! You coward!"

He knew that this was going to be hard, but he forced himself to turn and face Akane. The youngest Tendo had stormed out into the middle of the back yard and stood, her fists clinched at her side as she glared at him.

She continued to shout, "Go ahead! Run away from the pact! Run away from all the trouble you've caused! See if I care! But you can't run away from the Anything Goes School. You know you're no good at anything else, so let's face it, you need to stay!"

"No…I don't."

Akane panicked for a moment then yelled into the house, "Nabiki! He owes you a lot of money, right? He has to stay till he pays you off!"

The middle Tendo looked up from the sword hilt still lying on the floor and answered, her voice emotionless, "Not this time. I don't think I'd like what it would cost me."

And then Ranma had the gate open and was through it, letting it swing closed behind him. Akane was desperate. She needed a way to get the last say in this unbelievable situation. Then the answer came to her, simple and straight forward.

"I CHALLENGE YOU!"

Ranma's hand swung backwards and held the wooden door open. His head tilted to one side as if considering.

"I'm listening."

Akane smirked, "A fight to see which one of us is really the one to carry on. The winner is the only heir to both the Saotome and Tendo Schools, and the loser has to give up both Schools forever!"

"Fine."

Ranma turned around and walked back into the yard, but Akane held up her hand.

"No cheating, you hear me? None of your fancy special moves or blasts. We use the Anything Goes School only."

"Peachy," Ranma nodded and fell into a tight stance, his hands held in close and his legs settled in a stable spread. "Call it."

Akane yelled, "BEGIN!"

"I yield."

Akane actually stumbled out of her headlong charge and fell on her face as Ranma put his hands up and surrendered.

"It's just not worth it to me. You can have Anything Goes for all I care; I have a few dozen other styles to fall back on." The young martial artist continued, "I've fought and fought for every little thing in my life. I've won so many fights, but I lost the war in my own heart."

And with that he turned to leave again.

Akane pulled herself up off the ground. Her mind was spinning in confusion and rage. She dug in her feet, leapt from the ground, and pulled out her mallet to smash Ranma into submission for his arrogance, his attitude, and everything else he had ever done to her. The wooden hammer was up, over her head, and on it's way to killing Ranma when they boy spun on one heel and lashed out with a blazing straight punch that blew through her guard and impacted hard with her chest, sending her flying across the yard and skidding to a halt on the ground at the far end.

"Three cracked, one broken. I wonder if you'll be faking it to get attention," Ranma said coldly before he walked out of the yard, letting the side gate finally close behind him.

Soun Tendo was already in motion, checking on his fallen daughter. Genma however looked panicked.

"What do we do now? Without the boy all our plans are for nothing. We need him to join the Schools. We need him so we can retire. Hell, we need him to fight all the loonies that keep showing up here. What do we do, Master?"

There was no answer, and Genma turned to look at Happosai's cushions, but they were empty. Looking around rapidly, Genma saw that the old man was nowhere in sight, and a shiver of dread went down his spine.

"Even the Master has abandoned us…"

**********

"Ranma."

He was almost to the end of the block, but it was the one voice that he would stop for at this point. He turned and saw Kasumi a few yards behind him, holding his rucksack. Judging by how it was bulging and resting on the ground she had packed every last scrap of clothing he had, including the garments he had collected for his girl half over the last year.

"You really shouldn't leave unprepared like this."

He sighed, "Kinda had to, Kasumi. If I had let them get to me again it would have started all over. I had to act while I could, otherwise it would all go back to the way it was. I'm just not strong like that."

The eldest of the Tendo sisters gave a slight smile, "I don't know. I think that you had just enough strength to do what needed to be done, that's all that matters."

She passed him his pack and he shouldered the load. It was heavy, but it was still light in comparison to what he had just relieved himself of.

Kasumi asked, "So what now?"

"I honestly don't know," Ranma answered. "I've got a couple of leads I'm going to check out, and I don't think my fighting days are anywhere near over. I'll just take it one day at a time, and try to make each day a little better."

"Good plan, my boy."

Ranma and Kasumi turned to see Happosai sitting on a nearby mailbox, pipe out and lit.

Ranma moved in front of Kasumi and rooted his feet, ready to intercept any attack on her, or himself.

"What do you want, old goat?"

The old master laughed, "I have to say, you really scared the crap out of this old man in there. But I can see that there were other forces at work here." Happosai nodded to Kasumi, "I'm guessing she finally got through that thick head of yours."

Ranma nodded, and after taking a long pull on his pipe Happi continued, "Good. You were getting into a rut anyway, and being stuck like that is no way to improve your skills. It would only wear you down in the end." At Ranma's questioning look he went on, "To continue your rather well used sword analogy in there, even the greatest blade will dull with constant use unless it is lovingly cared for. You're right to go out and find a new path, one that suits you better."

With that the old pervert hopped down and walked away, softly humming to himself as he headed back into the Tendo compound. Ranma and Kasumi looked at each other, stunned by Happosai's words. After a few moments though, the finality of the situation once more asserted itself.

Ranma asked, "How about you? What are you going to do now?"

A thoughtful look crossed Kasumi's face, "I'm not sure either. But I think the first thing I'm going to do is follow your advice."

"How so?"

"I'm going to go give Doctor Tofu an Amazon Glomp Tackle that will knock his socks off," Kasumi said with a smile. "Take care of yourself, Ranma. And stay in touch if you can."

"I will."

And with that Kasumi watched the young man she had nurtured for a year head out, seeking his destiny.

**********

Hotaru dreamed.

It was not the nightmare of her father's lab fire that had taken so much from her, nor was it the nightmare that haunted her of the monster within that she feared.

This was a dream of happy times in a magical land long ago.

She was holding herself upright with a wooden practice staff, gasping for air. In part it was because she had just been put through the wringer by her new instructor, the mysterious Sailor Polaris. But for the most part it was due to laughter as she watched the training field.

"You did that on purpose," growled out Polaris as she climbed out of the courtyard's fountain.

Princess Serenity looked up from the ground where she had just fallen after tripping into Polaris, causing the white haired warrior to fall into the water. Beside her, Sailor Mercury looked on in stunned silence, one hand still holding a wooden practice sword, the other holding a scroll that the Princess was trying to give her.

The heir to the throne had come bounding out to the courtyard, calling to her blue haired friend that she had finally finished her homework and wanted it checked over. Mercury and Saturn were in the middle of their training time with the Polarian combat mistress, and their instructor had just jumped over a strike from the tactician of the Senshi team. Landing off balance due to the sudden distraction, Sailor Polaris had been caught off guard when the Princess tripped over a knoll in the grass and had taken a header into the nearby fountain, her gravity still reduced after her jumping dodge.

"One more giggle out of you kiddo and it's ten laps around the castle," the albino haired Senshi said to Saturn as she pulled herself out of the water.

The Princess scrambled to get up and reached out to help, "I'm so sorry! I was just…"

"No, it's ok. I've got it…"

"Let me help you out."

"No. Wait!!"

And now the Princess joined Polaris in the water.

Saturn couldn't help it and fell to the ground, laughing herself to tears as the two of them struggled to get out of the fountain, only succeeding in pulling each other in again.

In her sleep, Hotaru smiled warmly and slept better then she had in years.

To be continued…

Endnote: Next time, Ranma sits down with Setsuna and attempts to understand the improbability of reincarnation, and also comes face to face with a piece of Polaris' life. Until then, keep believing, keep pretending.


	9. Electron Shell

Famine sighed as she traveled to the lowest portions of her master's keep.

She hated coming down to this chamber, but there was really no choice about it. Her master had been adamant that she find and capture his prey, and to do that she would need help.

The smell was the first thing to hit her, and she was glad for the spell on her hood that blocked most of it. The cavern was enormous and had many coves in it, and as she walked to the center of the open area she could feel the eyes of hundreds of creatures on her. She stopped in the center where her peer stood.

"Famine," greeted the heavily robed man. His voice was sickly, but strong as he turned to face her.

She responded, "Plague. I have been ordered to seek your assistance."

"You need some of my children to keep her friends busy while you collect the Master's obsession."

She nodded, "They are strong, and your usual creations will not be enough for this mission."

Plague acknowledged this with a shrug and lifted an arm, pulling back the sleeve to reveal that his skin was covered in countless pustules. With a hissing sound twelve dropped to the floor and began moving, shifting, and growing. After a few minutes they had burst, and now a dozen leathery brown humanoid forms stood between the two of them.

Plague lowered his arm and wheezed out, "You will find these to be most resistant to the elemental magic's wielded here."

"Excellent."

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 9

Electron Shell

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

Ranma had to admit, he was dog tired.

He was physically worn out from fighting for his life against War and then running most of the way to Juuban. He was currently camped out on the roof of one of the office buildings near the center of the district and lying out on his bedroll under they black sky. His body cried out for rest, but his thoughts were troubled and would not let him sleep.

It was because he was emotionally tired.

After his departure from Nerima he had run. He lost track of how long, and by the time he had stopped running his legs were burning and he was gasping for air, not out of exertion, but because he had used the secluded nature of the rooftops he traveled on to do the one thing he always tried not to do.

He had let his emotions out.

He had cried. He had shouted out his anger. He had raged and wept, and in the end it had taken its toll after years and years of repressed anger and fear and resentment flooded his system.

Now he felt that a weight had been lifted off his chest, at least a little and it had left him with a moment of clarity. He had loved Akane, in what little he understood about love. But it was not the kind of love that everyone seemed to want, and no one was willing to accept that.

Love was nebulous to him. Had he ever really felt true love? He wasn't sure. Instead he looked at his relations to people and saw that he had felt friendship at times, and even affection, but what he had felt was never wholly…comfortable to him.

Until he had met Setsuna Meioh, and then the Senshi.

There was a connection there, he was sure of it, and in this moment of clarity he looked back on the words of the strange, green haired woman. She had said that he was reborn from a warrior in another life that had stood along side magical guardians.

Normally Ranma would have laughed at this, but he had met Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and had to consider the possibility. Add in the deep feelings of…almost family he had felt while fighting along side them, and Setsuna's words seemed more credible.

He sighed. There was no turning back now, and he had made his choices. In the morning he would find the address listed on the card Setsuna had left him, and hopefully he would be able to start on the road towards his new life.

**********

In the morning Setsuna sat at the kitchen table sipping her tea and waiting. It was the hardest part of her job, knowing what may happen but still having to wait for it. Sometimes it was a blessing, giving her time to mentally prepare for what was about to happen. Other times it was simply nerve wrecking.

This was somewhere in between.

Haruka and Michiru had left for the day. The duo had an appointment with a music producer who was interested in Michiru's classical sound and deeply emotional music. It was a great opportunity, but as far as Setsuna was concerned it got them out of the house for the meeting that would happen here later.

Conflict was inevitable between Uranus and Polaris, not because the two of them were enemies. Far from it, they were friends. The trouble was both of them were competitive by nature, and Ranma was still confused about who he was. Haruka would not help him at this point.

Instead Setsuna had arranged for three people who would be of great help to be here.

The first was just now stumbling her way down the stairs. Hotaru's light purple pajamas were rumpled, and her hair was a mess, and her eyes were only half open, but the young girls looked to be in much better shape after a long night of sleep.

"Good morning Hotaru."

"Merf," the girl managed as she walked over to the fridge and opened it, staring blankly at the shelves for a long time.

Setsuna smiled. Hotaru was actually doing a very good, if unintentional, impersonation of her Papa at the moment.

The Time Guardian asked lightly, "Would you like some orange juice?"

Hotaru lightly nodded and pulled out the carton, letting the fridge door pull itself closed behind her as she shuffled over to the counter to get a clean glass.

Setsuna stood, confident that Hotaru would manage to get through her morning and be ready for what was to come. She made her way to the door and looked at the clock, slowly counting down to herself. She reached out and opened the door just as the other two people she would need for the day were about to knock.

Usagi stood; hand raised to rap her knuckles on the door and blinked, "I really should know better by now."

"Not at all, Princess," Setsuna said calmly. "When you stop attempting to knock, how will I know you were going to?"

Usagi paused, thinking hard about what she had just been told. Behind her Makoto grinned and could almost see smoke coming out of her blond friend's ears.

"Don't you think it's a little early in the day for temporal mechanics?"

"Perhaps," she said to the brunette, "but I need to keep you on your toes somehow. Please come in, our guest will arrive in a short while."

The girls entered, Makoto pushing Usagi in, and headed into the living room. Hotaru was already there, a half drained glass of orange juice in her hand. She was absently running the other hand though her hair, trying to get it to settle. Usagi smiled and sat next to the girl, pulling a brush out of her purse and helping. The smile on Hotaru's face was welcoming and thankful.

Makoto grabbed a chair and started, "So what's this all about? I'm hoping that this isn't another trip to that nuthouse."

"No," Setsuna reassured, "instead one of the people in Nerima will be coming here. Polaris' reincarnation is attempting to sort out his present and his past. It will be difficult for him, for a number of reasons, and I believe that the people in this room would be best suited to help."

She turned to Makoto, "The two of you often partnered up for missions. You had an excellent working relationship, and the two of you were good friends as well. Hotaru was very dear to Polaris, and was even considered her disciple in the fighting arts."

Hotaru nodded as Usagi brushed her hair, "She taught me Polarian pole arm fighting. Some of the Royal Guards too."

"The Princess is here because now, like back then, she has an honest and trustworthy spirit. That is what Ranma needs right now. He has had little trust in his life, and every time his has given his trust he has been betrayed in one way or another."

Usagi looked up from her work, "You found out more about…him? Is he going to help us?"

"I don't know," Setsuna answered honestly. "He has been used so often. He will most likely be on guard for some kind of deception. He'll want to fight, have no doubt, but he may not want to fight along side us. He may not be able to trust."

Makoto frowned, "That's not good. The reason we fight so well together is that we trust each other, at least most of the time." The last was said with a flat tone and a sharp glare at Setsuna. The Time Guardian acknowledged this with a nod and a sigh.

"I know my own fault, and I am hoping to correct them. That is why I am involving you in this instead of trying to solve this problem myself. I originally thought I could let this pass by and keep Ranma away from this. But it is in his nature to help, he's a hero. That may be just what we need in the coming days."

Usagi thought for a moment, "He sounds nice, and maybe lonely. Tell us about him."

"Just a little…"

**********

Happosai looked out over the Tendo yard and sighed heavily. He had spent the night packing his things, and now he was ready for another great adventure. This time he had a reason, a purpose.

Not really, he was just not going to stick around these losers.

He felt a presence behind him and for a moment was tempted to attack. He restrained himself however, and let the person approach.

Akane's torso was heavily bandaged, and she had been told to stay in bed while her ribs healed, but this was far too important to her. She had earned this right, and nothing, not even the injuries that cheating Ranma had given her, would stop her.

"I'd like to start training, Master Happosai," she said with fire in her voice. She could barely stand, but she wouldn't let Ranma show off at her expense. This was her right, her destiny.

Happosai slowly turned, "And why would I train you?"

Akane blinked and answered, "I'm the true heir to the anything goes school now. Ranma gave it up, and good riddance. Mister Saotome was right all along, he was a disgrace to the school."

Happosai took out his pipe and slowly packed a bit of tobacco into it, "And why was he a disgrace?"

"He was a jerk and a pervert," Akane said with certainty. "He was a coward who was always attacking nice people like Ryoga. He ran out on the engagement pact and this family. He was an idiot that deserved to be cast out, to be a ronin."

Lighting his pipe with an old match, Happosai closed his eyes for a long moment.

"Horse feathers," he answered simply. "If anyone in this house is a pervert, it's me. Ranma is about the least perverted person I know, despite temptation. The poor boy is a total innocent. As for cowardice, that's impossible. He's a braver man then I am, that's for sure. As for your pact, to hell with it. It has caused nothing but misery, and I'm glad the whole fiasco is over."

Then the old Master got a dangerous glint in his eyes, "And if I ever hear you say he deserved to be cast out again I will personally insure that you never are able to practice martial arts again."

Walking past the stunned Tendo girl, Happosai collected his small backpack and began heading out the front. In front of the door he found Soun and Genma waiting for him, bowing on the floor.

"Master," Soun cried out, "Are you going to retrieve Ranma for us? We are so grateful to you, Master."

Genma nodded, "If anyone can teach that brat respect it is you, Master. Once you have him back we can put all this madness behind us."

Happosai slowly shook his head, "You two really are a piece of work, aren't you. No, I'm not going to 'retrieve' Ranma! Leaving you idiots is probably the first intelligent thing that boy has done since I've met him. As far as I'm concerned, you have had this coming for a long time now, so suck it up and deal."

Genma and Soun looked up in confusion and Genma asked, "Then where are you going, Master?"

"I'm actually going to follow Ranma's advice. I'm going out into the wide world once more to find my life. I've been cooped up here too long, and the road is calling out to me. I have a few years left in this old body, and I think I still have goals…dreams to fulfill. It's been a hundred years since I chased my dreams, and I'm going to start again."

He hopped over them and opened the door, and feeling a sense of drama, perhaps even the touch Ranma had felt, he turned back and spoke with authority.

"Oh, by the way. I am banning you two and that useless daughter of yours from practicing my art. This is no longer an Anything Goes dojo, and I'll be taking the sign with me as I leave."

Leaving the two shocked men in his wake he walked down the path to the front gate and jumped up outside, pulling down the dojo sign and sliding it through the shoulder straps of his backpack

"Are you leaving too?"

The old Master turned to see Kasumi walking up the street. Her dress was rumpled and her hair was slightly askew. Happi could tell that the young woman was more energized then she had been in a long time, and even if he normally would have scoffed at the idea, his keen senses could tell she was going commando at the moment.

Forcing down his lecherous thoughts for a moment, Happosai answered, "I'm sorry, my dear. But with Ranma gone I really have no reason to stay. I hate to leave these fools to you…but my guess is that you have found a way to deal with the stress."

Kasumi blushed, but a blissful smile crossed her lips, "I just followed Ranma's advice. I think that Ono and I have come to an understanding about our relationship."

"I bet," cackled the old man. "Are you going to get out of this town as well?"

"No," Kasumi answered, her mood deflating slightly, "as a doctor, Ono has a responsibility to his patients at the clinic. That is something I understand and respect. I don't think I'll be staying at the house for much longer though."

Happosai smiled lightly, "Oh? Your relationship had gone that far already?"

"I waited for him for four years," Kasumi replied, "and he didn't act on his feelings out of fear and confusion. Now I…and even I don't believe this…I've taken the initiative. I'm not going to wait another four years for him."

Happosai laughed loudly at the smile on the eldest Tendo daughter's face. They looked at each other, and knew it was time. Happosai bowed to the young woman, but Kasumi surprised him by dropping to her knees and hugging the old man. They stayed like that for another moment, and before he fell into tears Happosai pulled away and took up his pack.

"Take care, Kasumi."

"And you, Grandfather."

The old master bounded away, leaping to the top of the nearby wall and running off. As he sped along he felt himself get lighter as he contemplated the future. Jumping to the top of Furinkan High as he passed it, he yelled out at the top of his lungs.

"Look out, ladies of the world! Happi is back on the prowl!"

**********

Ranma stood before his destination, still hesitant on if this was the right choice.

The house was in the suburbs of the district, and even with his limited experience with urban life he had to admit the place was nice. It was a moderate sized house, smaller then the Tendo place but still a good size. There was no wall around the property and no dojo, but Ranma realized that not everyone in the world was a martial arts nut like the people he knew. The house did have a two car garage, but Ranma had never ridden in a car, so it didn't really interest him.

The place didn't even have ninjas in the shrubbery waiting to jump out and try and kill him.

The place looked like…well…a home.

Taking a deep breath, Ranma shouldered his pack and walked up the sidewalk to the front door.

Raising his hand he grumbled to himself, "Come on, Ranma. She said it was alright, that you could talk to her anytime. May as well do it now." With that he knocked.

Inside, Setsuna had finished telling a much abbreviated life story about Ranma. The reactions of the three other girls were similar and different at the same time. Each was saddened by the hard life their past friend had. At the same time each of the Senshi was furious at the way Sailor Polaris' reincarnation had been treated.

Makoto was in the kitchen, using her cooking as therapy as she poured her heart into making snacks for the gathering. She had thrown out her first attempt after turning an apple into puree while trying to peel it. She may have been mad, but she did not want to make mistakes like that. She loved her friends and her cooking, and cooking for her friends was one way she knew to make them feel better.

Hotaru was torn between running back up to her room and crying on her bed and pulling out her Silence Glaive and going hunting. She had been treated as a thing before, an experiment by her own father and a freak by her classmates. To be treated in such a way was disgusting to her, and to have Polaris-sensei treated like that boiled her blood.

Usagi could only sit as she processed the story. To her it made no sense at all. She never doubted her parent's love for her, and she knew that her friends cared for her as well with no strings attached. She could not fathom the situation Ranma had been in, and the idea that it was all right with Ranma's parents was enough to make her sick to her stomach.

Setsuna looked at her charges and frowned. They had reacted this much to less then a tenth of Ranma's true story. This meeting was going to change everything, and may take away some of the Senshi's innocence. She hoped she made the right choice in setting things in motion by leaving her card with Ranma.

When the knock was heard she knew that the point of no return had arrived.

"Princess, could you get the door?"

Usagi shook herself and stood, going to the door and opening it, still in somewhat of a daze. On the other side was a young man in red and black with an overstuffed backpack on. She looked up, and instinctively looked into his eyes.

It was something she had been aware of for a long time now. It was not a power gained by her past life, or by use of the powerful Silver Crystal, but it was something she had always been able to do. She could look into another person's eyes and see their heart. It had become second nature to her and had turned more then one foe into a friend.

Now she looked into this young man's eyes and almost burst into tears. But inside his despair she saw that there was hope, and that was enough for her.

"Excuse me," the young man said nervously, "I'm looking for a woman named Setsuna. Does she live here?"

Usagi nodded, "Are you Ranma?" He nodded again and she continued, "Please come in, we've been expecting you and…"

The young princess was an emotional person, and even though she was desperately trying to hold it in she couldn't hold on anymore and pulled the surprised young man into a comforting hug.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," she whispered as her walls broke down.

Ranma thought the blond girl's hug was anything but comforting and he froze, instantly alert for any attacks. His senses picked up no hostility, no lethal intent and no jealous rage. He did the only thing he could think of and looked up to see if a giant meteor was about to wipe out Tokyo. Still there was nothing.

He knew, absolutely and without a doubt that he was going to die in the next five seconds.

Five seconds later he really started to get nervous.

Finally Usagi let go and looked up to see Ranma nearly quivering in fear. His reaction was all the proof she needed that the boy had been damaged by the treatment of the people that were supposed to be close to him.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, "I guess I got a little carried away there. Please forgive me."

Ranma blinked, "Um…aren't you going to try and kill me now?"

"Of course not," Usagi said with a smile.

That got Ranma even more nervous, "You aren't engaged to me or anything are you?"

Usagi shook her head, "I already have a boyfriend."

"Never stopped anyone before," Ranma grumbled. "You aren't even going to hit me?"

Now it was Usagi's turn to feel odd, "Why would I?"

"It's what normally happens when someone grabs me. I get hit, or clobbered, or shot at. It's kinda the way it goes, you know?"

Usagi went wide eyed and shook her head violently from side to side, her ponytails thrashing behind her. The two teens looked at each other in wonder for a few moments, forgetting where they were. Ranma was unbelieving of the situation as he was not in traction yet. Usagi unbelieving of the situation as the boy seemed terrified of simple human contact.

Finally Usagi remembered the reason for being here and moved to one side, "Um…please come in. Setsuna is waiting in the leaving room and Makoto is making snacks."

Ranma blinked, taking this in, and answered, "You had me at snacks."

Usagi smiled at this, but still noticed that the boy was very cautious as he moved by her. He was a wound spring, and she could almost feel the stress rolling off him.

Leading him into the living room, Usagi saw that Hotaru had collected herself and was now fighting the urge to go and hug the young man who had saved her last night. Setsuna was aware of Saturn's gratitude and affection for the former Senshi, but it was not yet time.

"It's good to see you again, Ranma," Setsuna greeted in level tones as she stood and gestured for the martial artist to sit.

Ranma nodded, "Yeah…um…sorry about dropping in like this, but I really needed to talk to someone who may understand what's going on."

"That's all right. What would you like to talk about?"

Ranma sat in an armchair away from the girls and cleared his throat before scratching the base of his ponytail. He knew he was stalling, but his senses were sending him all kinds of odd feelings. He KNEW that he knew these people from somewhere. The older, green haired woman he had met before, and knew the tingle along his spine was telling him that he had met her before the encounter at Tofu's clinic, but the two new girls gave off the same feeling.

Ranma squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, "This is driving me nuts. Who are you people? I know you were talking about past lives and stuff at the Doc's place, but I swear it's more then that."

Usagi asked the frustrated boy, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Ranma growled out. "I feel like I've forgotten something important, and I know that I've forgotten it. At the same time it's like I'm trying not to remember, or I don't want to. Between that and bailing out Starsprite last night…"

Hotaru's eyes went wide, "What did you say?"

"Huh?"

The young girl pressed, "You said 'Starsprite'."

Ranma shook his head, "Did I…I was saving some girl…"

He looked around and saw a faint glow of life energy coming form the odd locket on the blonde's blouse, but wasn't able to pay attention as his head started to spin.

Hotaru nodded, "That's what you used to call me back on the moon." She slowly pulled out her transformation pen and held it up to show the young man.

Ranma's eyes locked on the crystal orb at the top, the symbol for Saturn slowly spinning under its clear, purple surface. Suddenly his ki sense screamed as a flash of white light spilled out of Usagi's broach.

Ranma shot upright; his eye's rolling back, and fell face first into the coffee table.

Setsuna rushed over to check him and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the durable young lad was all right. Looking up at her charges, she saw Hotaru's worry, but Usagi was looking down at the open Silver Crystal locket.

"What is it, Princess?"

"The Crystal," Usagi said softly, "it's…talking?...showing?...communing with him. It's jumbled. I'm not sure I understand."

Makoto suddenly came into the room, earphones dangling around her neck and taking in the collapsed boy.

"Um…did I miss something?"

To be continued…

Endnote: It may take a little longer, but I will get these chapters done as soon as I can. I do appreciate all the positive feedback I've gotten, and am glad a lot of you seem to like my ideas. For those who have asked, yes, Ranma will get her transformation…maybe (snicker). Next time, hold on Toto, 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye. Until then I've replaced something in your refrigerator, but I'm not saying what…


	10. States of Change

"Rena…Rena, wake up."

Slowly she opened her eyes. Only one person used that name, after all only one person here knew it. Flipping over on her bed she looked through bleary eyes to see the young Sailor Saturn, her protégé, attempting to get her up.

"By the Crystal," the young girl commented, "you're a wreck."

Rena slowly pulled herself upright and grumbled, "Yeah, yeah. I know. V was on the warpath again last night. She tried to set me up with one of the Guardsmen. When that didn't work she almost got me into trouble again with the Queen."

Helping her mentor out of bed, Saturn could not help but giggle at the Polaris Senshi's dilemma.

"Tried to get you into the Princess' panties again, didn't she?"

The white haired warrior woman grunted an affirmative and slowly stood. She worked her way over to the bathroom and went about her morning routine.

Saturn leaned on the wall outside, trying not to be amused by her older friend's condition and called through the door, "Did it work?"

Polaris' head poked out and shot a glare at her. This only caused Saturn to burst into a fit of giggles.

"Oh, you are so going to get it on the practice field today, Starsprite," Polaris growled before going back into the bathroom.

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 10

States of Change

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

Jupiter smiled under her cloak as she and her partner moved through the market. It really surprised her at times just how versatile Sailor Polaris was. Now only was she the best close range fighter out of all the Senshi, but she was an excellent spymistress as well. Take for example their current assignment.

"There's the little prick," Polaris said from under her own cloak. Jupiter nodded, but honestly couldn't tell who her friend was referring to.

At times it was almost like Polaris could smell the difference between people. This led it to be almost impossible to sneak up on her in a fight. The Polarian warrior had attempted to explain it as a sixth sense developed over years of fighting. She said it was an ability to see the different life energies of a person. But Jupiter was so rooted in her formulaic magic training that the sometimes spiritual thinking of her friend was hard to decipher.

Moving without notice through the crowd, the two Senshi came to a stall in a shadowed corner of the yard.

"Fresh from Earth," the slightly grubby proprietor cried out, "The best sweet fruits, just through the Gate! Apples, peaches and nectarines!"

Polaris led her partner over and dropped her voice an octave, "What 'ave ya got?"

The old man looked at his two customers, and his eyes noticeably dipped downward to look at Jupiter's chest.

"Mangos, two for a crown," he smiled.

In a flash a well worn dagger was in Polaris' hand and at the man's throat, "How about your nuts for a copper, Flabbyass?

Looking down at the blade, the storekeeper held his hands up in surrender, "Take what you want. I didn't mean any harm by it…"

Polaris flicked the knife into a reverse grip and stabbed it into the apple at the top corner of the stand and turned to walk away. Jupiter blinked and followed.

Once she caught up with her friend she whispered, "What was all that? I thought that he had information for us?"

"He did," Polaris said and took a bite out of the apple on her knife. She turned her head and showed Jupiter that she had pulled a small capsule from inside the apple with her teeth. Dropping it into her hand and pocketing it quickly, the white haired girl explained quietly so only the other Senshi could hear.

"Ap'n is an old Polarian word for hidden. If he had nothing this time he would have called out his wares in a different order. The rest was just a distraction, after all who pays attention to something like that after they figure out there's not going to be any bloodshed."

Jupiter considered this, and then asked, "So how did you know which apple to take?"

Polaris hesitated, but finally answered, "He slipped it into place for me to stab while everyone near us was checking out your chest."

That stopped the taller warrior in her tracks, "Are you telling me you just brought me along for my tits?"

Polaris spun around and held up her hands defensively, "No, no, it's nothing like that. If it was just me he would have done the same thing. It's a code, nothing more."

After a pause they got underway once more.

"But, while you mention it, you do have rather nice ta tas…"

Jupiter swatted her friend on the back of the head as they moved through the marketplace.

**********

Mars was out of her league and she knew it. She was middle of the pack as far as her hand to hand skills went, but when the top included grapplers like Uranus, powerhouses like Jupiter, and total whirlwinds like Polaris then it wasn't so bad.

In front of her was the most experienced of the Senshi, Pluto. The practice staff in her hands spun with deadly efficiency and Mars had a moment of panic as she tried to figure out a way around the woman.

"Time!"

Mars' head whipped around and saw that the timing crystal Polaris held was empty. With a sigh she slumped off and collapsed at the edge of the arena where Jupiter and Mercury were already recovering.

Polaris shook her head, "You can't hesitate like that when lives are on the line. All right Venus, you're up now."

"Don't worry you three," the blond leader of the Inner Senshi said with a smile, "I'll avenge your honor."

"Go get 'em, V," Jupiter cheered.

Venus took her place on the starting line and waited. Polaris spun the timing crystal again, letting it glow as it recharged, then let it go. Tapping the front facet she signaled the start.

"Go!"

She dashed forward and took in the obstacles in her way. The point of Polaris' course was to get them ready to face multiple, high powered opponents. She had set it up so that the Outer Senshi would act as 'guardians' on the way to the finish line, each guardian tougher then the last. The only limit they had was that no magic was allowed.

Venus had watched her friends run the challenge and had seen their tactics. Mercury was swift and agile and had jumped, tumbled, and evaded her way past Neptune and Uranus before falling to Pluto's longer reach with her time staff simulacrum.

Jupiter had made it past Pluto thanks to her endurance and bloody minded determination, but the bruises on her arms were testimony to the consequences of her reckless attack.

Mars had fallen back on basic training, but had taken too much time getting past Uranus. She had also hesitated in trying to get past Pluto and had run out of time.

This would be different, Venus had a plan.

Dropping to the ground she slid under Neptune's first attack while reaching up to flip the Outer Senshi's skirt up. This distracted Uranus for a moment as she glanced at her girlfriend's bottom allowing the orange skirted Senshi to dash past her.

She continued on, charging full force at Pluto who put up her staff in a ready horizontal guard. Venus jumped, catching the shaft with her feet and forcing the older Senshi off balance. Keeping her momentum, the blond jumped again, vaulting over Pluto and heading for the last guardian.

Saturn looked at the onrushing Senshi and felt a swell of determination. It was time to use her teacher's greatest defensive ploy.

Venus saw Saturn's eyes go wide, tears leaking out the side, looking up at the Inner's leader with fear and trepidation. Her practice pole arm clutched close like a life preserver and a pout on her lips. Venus skidded to a halt, heels digging into the ground of the arena as she saw the fear on her friends face.

Shamefully she approached Saturn, "Oh, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to scare you like that."

In a flash, Saturn's posture changed as the blond reached out to hug her. Spinning in place she used her weapon to knock Venus' feet out from under her knocking the girl to the ground hard. Flat on her back, Venus was stunned as Saturn's wooden blade came to her neck.

"Got you," the smaller girl said with a smile.

Polaris was off to the side, roaring in laughter. Even the other Inner and Outer Senshi couldn't hold in their mirth at the move.

Venus grumbled as her friend helped her up, "What the hell was that?"

"The dreaded 'Puppy Dog Pout'," Polaris explained. "It's a lethal technique developed long ago on Polaris by a young girl trying to get sweets from a stingy merchant. Now, what does it teach you?"

The blond snapped back, "That Polarians are sneaky little pranksters."

"True, true, but not what I meant," the white haired warrior replied, turning serious. ""We are supposed to be protectors. As such we must be aware of what is around us as even the most innocent seeming of people could be a threat. An assassin does not run around with a sign above their head, they melt into a crowd, and it is our job to stop them when the go from innocent bystander to dangerous threat."

"We are the line, and none may cross us."

**********

Sailor Polaris bowed deeply before the Queen, "You summoned me, my Lady?"

Serenity smiled at the young warrior and rose from her throne, "Follow me, please."

Polarity quickly fell in a step behind and to the left of the Silver Queen. She had come to respect the Queen a great deal since the time of her people's arrival, and felt that even if Serenity was idealistic at times her heart was good. Add in the refuge she had given the Polarian survivors and Polaris was loyal to the Queen without regret.

The Queen knew this, and this is why she was willing to share this secret with the albino haired Guardian.

Leading Polaris out of the Grand Hall and into the antechamber, Serenity opened a hidden passage along one wall and ducked in. Polaris glanced around in a cursory security check and then followed, letting the hidden door slide closed behind her.

Continuing down a long, sloping corridor the two eventually came to a simple door. Using a few magical words, the Queen reached out and touched the door causing it to vanish and allow the two women to pass. Inside was a domed chamber with a pedestal in the center.

"You know of the Silver Crystal of course," Serenity said as she cupped her hands and drew out the mystic artifact. "What you do not know is one of the things we are planning for it." Placing the Crystal on the center pedestal she continued, "Pluto warns of darkness gathering on the horizon, and even with your help in making the Senshi and the Royal Guard so much stronger we may not be able to repel it. Therefore I began 'Project Rebirth', a rather dramatic name for a desperate plan."

Walking around where the Crystal sat she looked right into Polaris' eyes, "All souls are mutable, and in the course of time return to life after death in new forms. But there may be a time, somewhere in the future, when the you that you are now will be needed. All the other Senshi, save Pluto, have undergone this process. It will give you a reincarnation of peace, unless a great darkness threatens all. If that time comes you may be reawakened to once more serve as a guardian of humanity."

"But it is your decision. What say you?"

Polaris stared blankly at the Queen for a few moments then started to think hard about what was just said. On her home world she had stood at the end and had survived, protecting her people. Here in the Moon Kingdom she had joined with other Senshi to guard not one world, but many. The idea that a threat would once more rise to take her world away unnerved her greatly.

She knew that plans were always made for such events. It had been a teacher of hers that had said 'plan for the worst, hope for the best'. The Queen's plan was just that, a safeguard against the worst. It meant the possibility of her next life being thrown into war, but she knew the risks when she first donned her armor.

"I accept," she said solemnly.

Serenity nodded and motioned Polaris forward, "Cup your hands over the Crystal. I will guide the imprinting. It will create a stored template of you that will slowly filter into your next life. Half remembered dreams and feelings of places long gone. This will allow an adaptation to your powers."

The warrior girl nodded and did as instructed. The Queen placed her hands over Polaris and began a low chant as she connected with the Silver Crystal. Prismatic light began to fill the room as Polaris felt the low pulse of power from the artifact beneath her hands and warmth filled her mind as Serenity guided the spells.

But as the power built, so did the sense that something was wrong. It started as a tingle along her palms that raised the hairs on the back of her neck. But as each second passed her honed danger sense was screaming louder and louder. Soon she could take it no more as her awareness demanded that she act to protect her sworn charge.

Flipping her hands up and grabbing the Queen's she pulled sideways, forcing the Queen down and covering her with her own body. As they hit the floor red lightning began to arc out of the Crystal, scorching the surrounding dome and even impacting against Polaris' armored back. But the Senshi held out, protecting the monarch.

Finally the storm ended and Polaris was lifted off Serenity by a suddenly appearing Sailor Pluto.

"Damn, I was too late," the Time Guardian cursed.

Serenity looked up at her old friend, "What happened?"

"Chaos Magic," Pluto answered as she placed the knocked out Polaris face down again. She quickly checked the wounded back of her comrade and nodded. "She'll be all right, the damage was minor."

Serenity sat up and began a healing spell on the girls back, "How does she have Chaos Magic in her? We checked that before she swore her oaths."

Pluto frowned, "She doesn't…yet. That's the problem with Chaos Magic, it reacts randomly. There's some kind of temporal knot around Polaris now, and her future is in flux because of it."

"Is there anything we can do to fix this?"

Pluto looked down at her two friends sadly, "No. If I attempted to fix this now it would only lead to more problems. The imprinting backfired, but was partially successful. Beyond that…only the Fates know."

**********

"Why do I keep letting you do this to me," Polaris said as she snuggled deeper into the sheets. She wanted to pull away from the young woman holding her, but the warm and welcoming comfort she found there stopped her. She had tried to force herself away from these emotions, but her friends would not let her.

Her lover answered, "Because I know you need this. Every time you let me hold you I can tell it eases your pain a little."

Polaris wanted to turn away, but buried her face in her friend's bosom instead, "I feel like I'm using you…"

"You're not. I welcomed this, and we both wanted it to happen. I wish you would stop blaming yourself over nothing."

They were silent after that, simply enjoying each other's warmth. Finally they surrendered to sleep, but for one of them it did not last long.

She awoke, and knew that it was deep into the night. Looking over to the window of her chambers she saw a sliver of the Earth visible, but what drew her attention was the nude form of Polaris leaning against the frame, gazing out into the stars.

Sitting up, she quietly asked her lover, "Seeing the faces of friends in the stars?"

Polaris nodded, he eyes locked on one of the brightest in the sky, "So long…and it still hurts when I think about them. Infinity, Ghost, Malcolm, all of them…They stayed behind…I left them."

Getting up from the bed, the young woman walked over and wrapped her friend in a deep hug, "They were your team, and you miss them. You were the protectors of Polaris. You did not leave them behind."

"But…"

"No. It's been four years to the day since you left your world, and I know that this day always hurts, but you did your duty just as they did. They would not want you mourning them to the point where you were hurting yourself like this. They were your brothers and sisters, and they would want to see you live again."

Nothing was said for a long time after that as the two of them looked up into the night sky. The Earth slowly rose as a new day started and the young women finally left the window, climbing back into bed to get a touch of rest before the dawn ended and their day began.

"The masquerade is tonight," Polaris said as she kissed her friend on the neck, "I don't suppose I could steal you for a dance?"

"Are you sure? I thought you didn't want to let people know?"

Polaris shrugged and snuggled in closer, "It will drive V up the wall. And honestly, I'm starting not to care what people think."

"All right then, Polaris, I think I can give you a dance."

"Rena," Polaris said softly, looking her lover in the eye, "you can call me Rena."

"Your real name, are you sure?"

Rena nodded, "I've only told one other person, my student. Now I'm telling you because you've always been helping me. You've helped make this world my new home, and I'd gladly defend it, and you, with my life."

She hugged Rena tighter as she considered this. A true name was a powerful thing for those gifted with magic, and to tell someone your name was a show of trust. She knew the white haired girl cared for her, after all Polaris could let her feelings show here. The alien Senshi was hurt, and in her arms she found comfort that she had denied herself.

The choice was made.

"My name is Juno," whispered Sailor Jupiter.

They had been partners in the field long enough. Now they were partners in the future.

**********

Half a day later the world ended.

Polaris had discarded her party dress and was marshaling the Royal Guard in the main courtyard of the palace. Troops took up power lances and fell into formation under her watchful eye as she readied a sortie against the invading army.

Gone was the emotional girl of the night before.

Gone was the carefree woman who had danced and laughed with abandon only an hour ago.

All that remained was the battle hardened soldier, and she had orders to carry out.

"All right, you knuckle draggers," she bellowed out to the Guard formation. "These dogs came to pick a fight, but they made a mistake! In the words of my first trainer, 'You never provoke a dragon, 'cause you are soft and crunchy'! Today we are the dragons come down from the mountain to feed, and those freaks out there are going to be oh so tasty!"

There was a loud cheer from the assembly as the soldiers psyched themselves for battle.

Polarity continued, "Attention to Orders from the Queen!" The formation snapped to attention and quieted, "First Company of the Royal Guard is to advance through the city and engage the enemy while the reserves evacuate the civilians through the Gate. The Senshi will be guarding the Queen and the Gate, so it is up to us to buy time, and my coin purse is full!"

Another cheer filled the air.

"Move out!"

With that the formation turned and began marching through the Palace entrance, heading down to the city. As they moved, Polaris pulled aside one of her trusted captains.

"Amaza, go gather the Wolves form Polaris. I think there is going to be more fighting then we think, and it would do to have as many fighters from the old country as we can."

The young warrior nodded and ran off to obey her commands. Polaris got ready to follow the troops out into the city and hold back the flood of monsters, but she lingered at the wall for a moment. Glancing up to the central dome of the palace she could just make out the forms of the other Senshi, half of them anyway.

The Outers were off world attempting to stop an assault on Mars. Only the Inner Senshi and herself were left on the Moon, and it was a perfect opportunity to strike. Weakened, and not on guard, the forces of the Silver Moon looked ill prepared to fend off an assault.

But looks were deceiving.

Polaris let her eyes linger on the white and green speck of Jupiter who stood by the Inner Senshi's leader. They were both soldiers; ready to die for their people, so no words needed to be said when they had parted. A squeeze of hands, a touch of lips, and they were off to do their duty.

But now it felt that this was the last time Polaris would see her longtime partner, friend, and now lover.

**********

White, there was nothing but white.

Ranma looked around, but didn't dare to move as a wave of vertigo washed over him. He couldn't tell if he was standing or lying on his back. All he could sense was nothing. Nothing for as far as he could feel. And the feeling of that much nothing was crushing to him.

Suddenly he was standing, looking at the white haired girl that he had seen those thing through and could tell that she had some connection to him. Her posture was that of a fighter, but he knew she was. Her stance was that of confidence, and he knew she could back it up. Her smile was disarming and open, but it was as much a lie as the one he wore.

"Hello, Ranma," She said softly.

He nodded to her, "I guess you would be Rena?"

She nodded back, "So, out with it. I know you have questions so I'll try and answer a few with the time we have."

"So, what are you?"

"An echo," she answered. "I'm an imprint of the you that used to be. You already know that you are the reincarnation of a girl that lived long ago, but that's not all you are. I'm the last fragment of the past, here to help you get ready for what is happening now."

Ranma blinked, "um...ok…I guess. Does that mean you're going to possess me or something? You're a ghost, right?"

Rena laughed, "No, just a memory, and a fading one at that. When I imprinted on the Silver Crystal it only got a fragment of who I was. So when I died on the Moon I was unable to reincarnate like the other Senshi. The others got sent forward to a time of relative peace, I had to take the long way around. Now here you are a handful of lives later and finding the others again."

Ranma asked, "So, what happens now?"

"You have to decide that for yourself," Rena said as she walked up to him. "The Crystal would only have reacted to you if there was trouble brewing. I'd like you to pick up where I left off, but it may not be what you want, or need. I wouldn't know. You have to think about what you want, and if you can help them. I don't know anything about you, but I can tell you're a tired young man, just as tired as I was when we first landed on the Moon. They may be able to help you, just like they helped me. But like I said, you have to decide."

Ranma closed his eyes, deep in thought. The visions he had of Rena's life had been sometimes fun, sometimes frightening, but her had felt what she had felt. From training to being with real friends, and even being held in the arms of someone who cared. Ranma had looked for that kind of peace for a long time now, and had been denied it. Even if it had ended in fire, he would gladly trade his life in Nerima for Polaris' life on the Moon.

And then there was the responsibility. Polaris had seen not one, but two worlds fall, and if what this shade of the past said was true then there was more problems ahead.

He wanted friends, and people that cared about him.

And he did not want to see a third world die.

"I'll do it," he said, his voice a whisper.

Rena took his wrists in her hands, and he felt something metal wrap around his skin. Looking down he saw brushed copper bands encircling his wrists, one trimmed in red, the other in white.

Rena let go of him and began to fade away, "My time is over now. It's all you from here on out, so don't let me down. More importantly, don't let you down. Good luck Ranma…Sailor Polaris…"

White, there was nothing but white.

But now Ranma felt at peace with it.

It was time to wake up.

To be continued…

Endnote: Had fun writing this one, and it probably wont be the last trip into the past for this story. As for what's next? The Senshi discover that for Ranma, everything is training, and another encounter of the Nerimian kind looms ahead. Until then, never play poker with a mime…it's just no fun…


	11. Unification

Ranma jolted upright causing the person watching over him to jump back to avoid being hit in the head. He looked around in a daze, recognizing the small girl as Sailor Saturn. He didn't know how he knew, he just did.

Then the images came flooding back to him. Between suddenly sitting up and the onrush of memory his head spun and he fell back. Fortunately for him he had been moved from facedown on the floor to lying on his back on a couch.

"Are you all right?" a small voice came from next to him.

Ranma grunted, "Yeah, Starsprite, I'm fine. I just have the headache of two lifetimes." He opened his eyes again and took in the small, dark purple haired girl tending to him. "Hi kiddo."

Hotaru looked hopeful, "So you remember?"

Ranma shook his head, "Sort of. There are bits and pieces, and not a lot of it makes sense."

"That's what it's like for all of us," another girl said. Ranma turned to see who else was in the room and saw Setsuna sitting in a recliner with a small smile on her face, and a blond haired girl with two long ponytails.

The blond continued, "Each of us has gone through some kind of awakening, and from what the Crystal seems to be telling me you just went through one as well."

"Yeah, I guess. I just need a little time to sort it all out and…"

The smell of baked goods drew his attention as another girl entered the living room. Ranma gulped and held his breath as the brown haired girl from Polaris' memories placed a plate of cookies down on the coffee table. She was dressed different, in a green t-shirt and black jeans, but her hair, and her figure, were the same. When she turned to look at him he had to swallow again as he saw into those deep green eyes that had comforted Polaris so.

Then he remembered the cookies and his stomach let out a lour roar that stopped the blond as she was reaching for the plate.

Usagi blinked and looked at the boy, "Um…are you hungry?"

"Sorry about that," Ranma said as he sat up and reached for a cookie.

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 11

Unification

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

Shampoo stalked the streets of Nerima in search of the only prey that had ever eluded her impeccable hunter's skills, her husband. For over a year she had chased him, and even in this barbaric land she was foiled at every turn. It was almost as if the boy didn't want her attention.

But that was impossible…right?

Today she planned on once more cornering the young man. After all that had happened during their recent trip to China, and Ranma's rescue of her right before he defeated the Amazon's ancient enemy, she knew that it was time to claim the wayward boy. Especially before those two idiot males attempted another wedding to that gorilla, Akane.

The Amazon girl had already checked the Tendo home, covertly of course, and the various eateries around Furinkan. She had also snooped on all her husband's usual hideaways. Still the boy was no where to be found.

She really needed to break him of his habits. It would not do well for her to return to the tribe with such a disrespectful male.

Deciding that enough was enough, Shampoo doubled back to the Tendo home to try the direct approach. After all she had a right to know where her husband was at all times, and those vermin would not dare keep her away from him.

Dropping into the yard she saw Nabiki sitting on the porch, looking introspective, but the mercenary was not her concern and the warrior girl stormed into the dojo to find Akane there.

Shampoo demanded, "Where is husband?"

Akane looked back, here eyes flashing with rage, and she spun and lashed out with a wild punch that Shampoo negligently blocked and countered. With the barest fraction of her strength the Amazon sent Akane crashing into the far wall. What surprised her however was the scream of pain that the youngest Tendo let out as she hit the wall.

Moving to inspect the downed girl, Shampoo opened her yellow gi and saw a large amount of medical tape over Akane's side with the distanced purple of a large bruise peeking out from underneath.

"Who did this?" she wondered quietly.

Akane winced out, "Ranma." She then passed out from the pain.

Shampoo's eyes widened in shock. There was no way her husband could have done this. If anything, the male was always far too cautious when fighting women, holding back a great deal of his ability. For him to have so severely injured Akane like this he must not have held much back.

"He's gone," a voice came from the dojo entrance. Shampoo turned her head to see Nabiki standing there, and now the mercenary had her full attention. "Ranma finally snapped. I should have seen it coming, but I'm no better then the rest of you. I was so blinded by what Ranma could do for me that I totally ignored what we all did to Ranma. Now he's gone."

Shampoo looked at the almost crying Nabiki as if she were crazy, "Where is he? Where is Shampoo's husband?!"

"Don't you get it, you stupid bitch?! Look over in the damn house! Just leave us alone!"

Shampoo almost hit the girl in retaliation for that outburst, but before she could Nabiki fell to the ground, tears in her eyes. It was as if the world had been yanked away from the normally cold young woman.

Shampoo started to worry, and dashed out of the dojo to look past the porch and into the house. Inside she saw a catatonic Nodoka Saotome who was clutching a broken sword hilt as if it were a lifeline.

It took her a moment, but Shampoo recognized the intricate weaving on the grip. Looking down she saw that the other part of the sword, the blade, was still imbedded into the wood of the floor.

The sword was none other then the Saotome family blade.

Shampoo may not have understood all the bizarre Japanese customs, but she did understand what the sword meant, and what it meant if Ranma had broken it.

For the first time in years, since her grandmother had washed her mouth out with goat soap, Shampoo let a certain word pass her lips.

"Ah, crap."

**********

The cookies were gone. It was a simple statement, but the magnitude of what had just been seen was much greater then simple words. Makoto had come to take pleasure in Usagi's driven nature when it came to baked goods, and took the girl's quick devastation of her cooking as a compliment. But no one was expecting the shear velocity of Ranma and eating.

Hotaru had summed it up with a giggle, "Cookie Monster."

Setsuna just pouted. Chocolate chip was her favorite, but she didn't want to lose any fingers in the feeding frenzy.

"That really hit the spot," Ranma said and turned to smile at Makoto.

The girl blushed at the smile, but forced herself not to react as she normally would. With the sample of Ranma's life she had been told, she didn't want to come on too strong to the athletic young man.

At least not for a few more minutes.

"So," Ranma continued, "does anyone want to explain all this? I know I'm supposed to be some kind of reincarnation, and that something went wrong. Beyond that I'm a little lost."

Setsuna spoke calmly, "You are of course not the only soul that had arrived in this time. Also in this room are the reincarnations of your student, of course you already guessed that, your field partner Sailor Jupiter, and the Princess. For the last few years the Sailor Senshi have been active and fighting a secret war against forces of darkness. It all began when Queen Beryl returned from the void where Queen Serenity banished her during the Fall…"

What followed was the story of how the Senshi had risen again, and fallen only to be revived by the Princess and the Silver Crystal. They were tales of growth, both as fighters and as a team, and tragedy such as the loss of so many souls during Sailor Galaxia's attack and the Sailor Wars. Ranma could only sit, wide eyed with wonder as the Guardian of Time told the tale.

"And I thought Mount Phoenix was bad," he said quietly after the tale had ended. The girls in the room, other then Setsuna who had heard this before, looked at him questioningly. For a moment he balked at the idea of telling his story to them, but then remembered that they had already shared so many secrets with him, including their secret identities.

How could he not repay trust with trust, especially to people who showed him no animosity?

"You may have been in a war, but my life has been one battle after another. It all started when my…father…decided to take me on a ten year long training trip…" He told them all of it, leaving nothing out, and he could tell his story affected them.

Tears fell form the girls eyes when Ranma spoke of the Neko-ken. Anger crossed their faces when he talked about the many…many…many times his father had sold him for scraps of food. And they all were torn between tears, anger, and just laughing at the monumental stupidity of it all when he talked about his days in Nerima.

When he got to the battle on Mount Phoenix between him and Saffron their attention was fully drawn in. It was a fight that could have been avoided; even Ranma knew that, but the Phoenix Lord considered himself above mortal concerns such as courtesy. And the fight was desperate, epic, and ultimately futile.

When Ranma finally told of Saffron's defeat he himself was on the edge of his emotional control. And the heartbreak of the wedding and the chaos since then left him empty, drained of any energy.

He slumped back in his chair, his story told, and waited for their reactions. Mentally he was ready to get up and head out, knowing that all the blame would be placed squarely on his shoulders. But another voice inside him gave him hope.

These were good people, and they would not judge him as the others had.

He looked into the eyes of the Princess and saw that he need not fear.

A loud crack was heard and Ranma looked up to see Makoto holding the empty cookie plate. It had been cleanly snapped in two and the tall brunette was shaking with rage.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't level that whole damned town," the thunder Senshi said quietly.

Ranma answered with a lopsided smile, "It's been tried. Never seems to work right though." He continued in a more serious tone, "I'm just glad to let it go. The real trouble now is what do I do next? I have a feeling that War isn't going to let it go with the beat down I gave him."

Hotaru nodded, "He may be related to Famine, a sorceress we fought. If they team up we could have real trouble."

Usagi whimpered slightly, "We barely beat one of them. How are we going to fight two?"

Setsuna smiled, "Before we were unsure of our adversary, now we know that she is powerful, but not invulnerable. Likewise, War can be overcome; Ranma proved that and he was not even in Senshi form."

"And since I'm going to be helping you won't have to worry about that big lummox," Ranma said, slapping a fist into an open palm.

Usagi looked up, "You're going to help? I thought Setsuna said she didn't want to burden you, and I have to agree. We can't make you do this."

"Not your choice, Princess. I'm a fighter, born and bred. I was before and I am again. Besides, what kind of guy would I be if I let you girls run off into a fight and stayed behind," said Ranma.

All the Senshi but Usagi kept their counsel about the other male on the Senshi team. Tuxedo Mask was the only one of the group to stay consistently off the front lines.

Setsuna tried once more, "Are you sure about this? Once you do this there is no going back."

"War came after me specifically," Ranma answered, "I'm involved somehow with this to begin with, so I may as well go in full force."

The Time Guardian nodded, "Then you should transform into Sailor Polaris so that we can see if it still works. Your reincarnation may not have affected your Star Seed, but the chaos magic of Jusenkyo is an unknown variable. The Star Seed's power comes from a source as old as the universe and may be the stronger, but chaos has a way of warping anything around it.

"All right," Ranma said, standing with a ready look on his face. After a long pause his look turned sheepish and he scratched the back of his neck, "Um…how do I do this?"

Makoto stepped forward, "I'll show you. First, concentrate on your magic focus, like this." She flicked her wrist and an ornate hilt with a hand guard and a green crystal on top appeared out of thin air. "Then draw power from the item and use your activation phrase. It's basically a spell that triggers the change."

With that she stepped back and held up her wand.

"Jupiter Crystal Power…MAKE UP!"

White and green light blazed around Makoto as lightning arced across her body. The bolts then began to spin around her forming three circles that rotated as her clothing was blasted away and replaced with her white bodysuit and green skirt. Her white gloves and green ankle high boots completed the outfit as the power surrounding her faded away and she dropped into a ready stance.

Sailor Jupiter looked up to see that Ranma was facing away, cringing slightly as if expecting an attack.

"Um…Ranma? What's wrong?"

Ranma almost yelled, "I swear, I didn't see anything!"

The girls blinked in confusion for a moment, but it was Hotaru who understood first. She walked over to Jupiter and motioned her down. The taller Senshi leaned down and let the young girl whisper into her ear. After a moment she looked wide eyed and glanced at Hotaru.

She whispered, "Why are you telling me this?"

"I want Sensei to be happy again."

Sailor Jupiter straightened up and marched around to stand in front of the cringing Ranma. Taking a deep breath she drew on her memories of Polaris training the Royal Guard.

She bellowed, "Eyes front, Soldier!"

Ranma snapped to attention, remembering fragments of the past as well. His eyes locked on Sailor Jupiter's as he forced himself not to stare at her new outfit.

"Ranma," Jupiter began softly, "We are not going to be like those people. We don't want to use you and we will listen to your side, always. I don't blame you for seeing me transform." He looked away but Jupiter bellowed again, "Eyes on me! Better. When I showed you my transformation it was to show you how it works. And it was a sign of trust. I want you to be our teammate, and our friend."

"She's right," Usagi added. "We are a team, but we're all friends first. I would put my life in the hands of any of my friends because I trust them. We try not to hurt each other, and we try to help each other when we are hurt. We stand by each other in good times and bad, and we can always count on our friends when we're in need. We are all best friends and more. Makoto, Rei, Ami, and Minako are my sisters. Haruka and Michiru are my older cousins. Hotaru is my cute niece. And Setsuna is our caring, if sometimes annoying, aunt. I think I'd like to have you as a brother, but it's up to you. We can't force you to do anything, to join us, or to trust us. You have built up a wall in your heart, and it has probably saved you from those horrible people, but it's up to you to take that wall down and see the beautiful world around you now."

Usagi's voice had gotten softer as she had spoke, and Setsuna recognized that she was letting a little of the Princess into her words. It was the young blond's gift, the ability to reach out and touch the most hardened of hearts, the most clouded of minds, and embrace their pain. If she could lessen it by just a fraction then Usagi had accomplished a true healing.

And, as the Princess had done so many times over the course of the Sailor Senshi's career, she had once more reached out with her open heart and touched a troubled soul.

**********

"Great Grandmother, Shampoo has news!"

The blue haired Amazon bounded into the back of the Cat Café, startling the shrunken elder woman standing on a stool in front of the oven. It took all her years of experience not to accidentally toss the half cooked ramen into the air.

Turning off the burner, and taking a calming breath, Cologne turned to her youngest clan member and asked, "What news do you have that has you do loud, young one?"

"Shampoo sorry Great Grandmother," the girl said sheepishly. She continued, "Husband had left the Tendo home! Gorilla Girl finally chase him off with bad food and abuse."

Cologne smiled, "That is good news, Shampoo. At long last you can claim what is yours and we can return to the tribe."

"Is more," Shampoo interrupted, "Shampoo think Ranma break clan bond when he leave. Mercenary girl was crying, Akane was hurt bad by Ranma, Old Pervert Man gone, and Ranma's mother held broken family sword. Shampoo think Ranma may have…not sure, but it bad."

Cologne frowned deeply as she took this in. In all the time she had known him Ranma had been honorable to a fault. She knew more of Japan then Shampoo, and for Ranma to willingly become Ronin in such a manner…

The dynamic had changed, and at a rate that made Cologne's old bones shiver. Steps would need to be taken, the first of which would be to find the boy.

"Go help Mousse close up the shop, Shampoo. If Ranma has separated himself from his family then we are the only ones with a claim to him anymore. We need to find him quickly before anything else happens."

With that the Amazon Elder hopped down off the stool and made her way over to grab her staff.

She just knew it was going to be one of those days.

**********

Ryoga looked around and just knew he was lost bad.

The restaurant was very nice, the most upscale of the upscale, and even here in the bar area he could tell that everything was arranged just so to accentuate the fact that there was more money spent on this place then he, and everyone he knew, would ever see. Even the soda he was drinking was almost too good to be true.

Two British guys were next to him, one in a bathrobe, talking about black sands in a bathtub, but it was the guy with them that Ryoga was really wary of. After all it wasn't every day that someone saw a guy with two heads and three arms in a disturbingly loud suit.

Taking another sip of his soda, Ryoga went to work on figuring out how this was Ranma's fault.

Akane had been beaten up by Ranma, and Ryoga, in pig form at the time was charging off to seek vengeance. But Ranma had already been cast out of his family and had abandoned his Art. Was their really anything Ryoga could do to him now?

Of course there was! Ranma was a self serving, sniveling, cowardly jerk…who had kicked the Phoenix Lords ass and stomped a mud hole in it.

"Aw, who the hell am I kidding? If I fight him now…I'm so boned."

"Hay buddy," the odd Brit next to him slurred, "You look like you could use a sippa."

Ryoga looked over and saw that the man was offering a bit of his high priced, and smoking, drink. Normally the Lost Boy would stay far away from anything alcoholic. His body was a work of art and his mind was focused. But things were spinning so badly out of control…

"What the hell?" he said and took the offered drink.

He took the tiniest of sips.

Five days later, and several billion years earlier, he woke up. But for the life of him he couldn't figure out how he got thrown into a Peruvian jail.

Maybe it had to do with his lack of pants and the odd tattoo of asparagus on his thigh.

Oh, this had to be Ranma's fault…somehow…

**********

"OK," Ranma said, "I'm ready. Let's do this."

They had cleared out an area around him, just to be safe, and now stood ready to witness his first transformation.

Jupiter had stayed in her Senshi form, and had a small smile on her face whenever the boy looked at her. It was nice to know she still had an affect on the reincarnated warrior after all this time.

The others were still in their civilian forms, but Usagi still had the look of the Princess in her eyes, and that was a great comfort to everyone. To know that Usagi was able to look past all Ranma's pain and troubles would be a great help in the time ahead.

But now it was time.

"Look within yourself," Setsuna said softly, "you will find an anchor of light. It is your Starseed, and the tie between you and your power. Draw it forth and you will understand what to do."

Ranma concentrated, and the power flowed within him. He had felt in his vision and understood how it worked. Like a mental switch, he triggered it. There was a flash of light and he once more felt the weight of copper bands on his wrists.

Lifting and crossing his arms over his heart he touched the red trimmed band over the white and spoke.

"Polaris Star Power…Make…AAARRRGGHHH!!!"

Black lightning arced from his bands off his body as red energy pulsed around him. A blast of heat escaped him as the humidity in the room increased to the point where even Jupiter could feel it through her armor. His body spasmed in pain as he fought against the onrush of energy that seemed tainted somehow.

Sailor Jupiter darted forward, her arms reaching out to stabilize the besieged boy, but she was halted by the storm of black and red energy cascading around him. Around her burn marks began appearing on the floor as bolts glanced here and there.

Setsuna called out, "Hotaru!"

The small girl was already in motion and with a flash of purple light was replaced with Sailor Saturn. Swinging her long weapon in front of her the young warrior channeled power.

"Silence Wall!"

The spell wrapped around Ranma and prevented any further damage to the inside of the house, but the boy trapped within was still surrounded by a storm, and it seemed to be increasing in savagery.

"What is going on in there," Sailor Moon asked as her own transformation finished.

Sailor Pluto brought her staff out and squinted into the storm, "Its chaos magic, pure and unbound. It affected Sailor Polaris' rebirth, and now it's affecting his transformation. But there is another energy at work here…I just can't figure out what."

Jupiter asked, "The curse he was talking about, could that be doing this?"

"I have no idea…"

Soon the storm within Saturn's barrier began to subside, and she lifted her spell. Smoke drifted out as the purple dome dissipated slowly, blocking their view of their friend.

Jupiter was about to move in and check on her partner, but a low, animalistic growl stopped her.

The smoke finally parted, and in the middle of the Outer Senshi's half destroyed living room stood a massive white tiger. Its shoulders were over four feet above the ground and its limbs were thick with muscle. Red stripes adorned its body and long, dagger like fangs peeked out of its mouth. Its eyes were yellow, wide and wild.

It sniffed the air as the Senshi looked on in shock, and turned towards them.

It let loose with a roar that knocked the girls over and shook the room, turned and jumped through the living room window, crashing through the glass and landing in the middle of the road, almost forty feet away.

Jupiter looked wide eyed at the damage as the large cat bounded further away into the city. She could only manage a whisper.

"R…Ranma?"

To be continued…

Endnote: Well…you wanted a transformation (evil smile). Now the Senshi have to catch our changed friend before Famine, the Nerimians, and Animal Control do. Can Ranma return to human form, or has the chaos devoured him? Until next time, let's get zappy!


	12. Chain Reaction

In all the times it had been released before it had never felt so right, so free, so balanced. Before it had been trapped in that stupid monkey shell, but now it was at home. Yes, this body was much larger and more powerful then it was used to, but what did that matter?

This time it was free, and it wasn't about to let that stupid monkey have his body back.

The white tiger bounded down the street, it's red stripes almost glowing in the twilight as it sprinted a short way and took a pounce, landing hard on the front of a yellow sports car that was just turning onto the street. The front end crumpled and screams could be heard from inside.

The massive creature sniffed the air again and coiled its legs, springing away again to land on the roof of a nearby convenience store. Out of the car scrambled two people.

"Oh my god," Haruka cried as she knelt next to the destroyed front of her prized Ferrari, "look what that thing did to my car!"

A white faced Michiru almost shouted back, "Forget your car! It could have killed US!"

Suddenly four sailor suited defenders of Love and Justice landed by them, breathing hard and ran over.

Moon almost collapsed on the ground next to them, but managed to get out, "Which way did he go?"

An equally panting Saturn pointed to the front of the car, then across the street to a savaged store sign. There were more screeching tires and crashes of glass heard in the distance as well as another roar.

"Oh, never mind," the Senshi leader said flatly as the four began running again.

Michiru watched as her teammates dashed off, looks of extreme worry on their faces.

"We should go after them," she said as she collected herself. "That creature may be a new enemy monster."

Haruka stood; a look of fury on her face, "Screw the enemy! I want that guy's insurance information!"

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 12

Chain Reaction

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

Uranus and Neptune quickly caught up to the other Senshi and fell into formation as the group bounded over the rooftops.

Neptune moved to Sailor Pluto's side and asked, "What is that thing, one of War's creatures?"

"No," the Time Guardian answered, "It's Sailor Polaris."

"What?!"

Sailor Jupiter called back, "Something went wrong with his powers. When he transformed there was a blast of bad juju and he went all beastie on us. I think it's some kind of berserker state, but we'll have to catch him to find out."

"Catch him, nothing," growled Uranus, "did you see what he did to my car?!"

Saturn took a deep breath and managed to get out, "Then you'll love what happened in the living room."

Neptune was about to question further when an explosion was heard up ahead and Sailor Moon commanded, "Less talk, more run! We have to help him before he hurts himself or someone else!"

Ahead of them the tiger was enjoying its night. Hopping between the massive square stones and chasing the little metal boxes. It had been so much fun, but all the while it had felt the presence of several people chasing it. It knew some of their scents, they were from the place where it had woken up, but more joined them.

Were they friend or foe? It wasn't sure, but maybe it would be interesting to find out. Either way it would have some fun playing with them.

**********

Rei awoke with a start. It had been a nightmare, a crawling darkness that was devouring everything it touched. The sensation was sickening to her, and even now in a wakeful stat she could still feel it.

Closing her eyes again she began a ritual of cleaning her mind, expanding her awareness. Normally her meditations were done in front of the sacred fire, but a sense of urgency gripped her heart tonight.

There, on the edge of her perceptions. It was a taint she had felt before when the Senshi had battled the cloaked sorceress, Famine. And now it had returned.

Sitting up, Rei turned to face the downtown area of the city, and even through her walls she could almost taste the evil in that direction.

The young shrine maiden reached over to her night stand and grabbed an ornate watch. Flipping its cover open she tapped a button and after only a few moments the watch face became a tiny screen with the disheveled blue hair of a sleepy Ami Mizuno filling it.

"It's almost midnight Rei," Ami said softly, "please tell me this isn't trouble."

Rei sighed, "Sorry Ami, but I think the enemy is back. I can almost feel her right now. Do you think you can scan for her while I call the others?"

"Yeah…yeah, I'll take care of it," the young genius said as she started groping around for her Mercury Computer. "I'm starting to understand why Usagi sleeps in class so much. Being a super hero does not make for a good night's sleep."

The connection closed and Rei pressed another button, fully expecting a long pause before anyone answered.

Almost immediately a blond, pony tailed head appeared, "What's up, Rei?"

After a moment of shock she answered, "Apparently you are. What are you doing up so late?"

"Trying to help a friend," Sailor Moon said.

In the tiny screen Rei could not make out much detail, but she could tell there was movement, a great deal of it. Shaking her head Rei focused back on her mission.

"Famine may be back. I can feel her, and Ami is scanning for her now."

There was a long pause and then Usagi said, "All right, I'm sending the Outers to back you up. Get Minako and meet up. Jupiter and I will catch up as soon as we can."

Rei blinked, "Wait, what? What's going on?"

In the background Rei heard Uranus' voice, "No way. What about my car?"

Moon looked over her shoulder, "We'll deal with that later." Speaking into the communicator again Moon said, "Get Ami and Minako and meet the Outers downtown. Moon out."

Confused, Rei reached for her transformation wand, "What is she up too?"

**********

"That thing is on a rampage and you want to split us up?!"

Moon almost cringed back from Uranus' shout but managed to hold her ground, "The more of us chasing Ranma around right now the more spooked he's going to get. Besides if War or Famine are back then they need to be dealt with."

The taller blond leaned over her leader, "Fine then. Pick one to focus on. We have two threats that need to be put down."

"NO!"

Jupiter and Saturn had shouted at the same time and Jupiter continued, "You even try and harm him and, teammate or not, I'll put YOU down."

"Enough," said Pluto with authority, "the Princess has given her orders. Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, we will aid our comrades."

The sandy blond was going to argue again, but saw the look in her adoptive daughter's eyes and her heart almost stopped. There was fury in those deep purple orbs, and it was directed right at her. Uranus relented as a knot grew in her stomach, and she turned to move out towards the downtown area.

Turning back to the Princess for a moment, Pluto asked, "Do you think you and Jupiter will be able to stop him?"

Sailor moon looked down for a moment and let out a deep sigh. She didn't look up, but squared her shoulders and quietly spoke.

"It's risky, and I'm not really sure it will work, but I have to try. I have to try and trigger another awakening in him, and hopefully Makoto will be able to reach out to him."

Pluto frowned, "Trigger another awakening…You're going to attempt to use the Crystal? You could endanger yourself."

Sailor Moon shook her head and looked up, "I don't think so. But even if I was, it wouldn't matter. He is our friend, and a Senshi. We take risks for each other every day, because we are family."

With that she turned and ran off in the direction of the white tiger's rampage. Jupiter a step behind her, but pausing for a moment.

"I'll bring them BOTH back, Pluto. I promise."

With that she followed quickly after the blond and the two Senshi bounded up to the rooftops once more to track down their wayward friend. The path was still easy to follow and soon led out of the more heavily populated areas and into the suburbs. As buildings grew smaller and wooded areas grew more numerous the destruction seemed to lessen.

Coming to a halt in the middle of a deserted intersection, Sailor Moon looked around, trying to find some clue as to where the large cat disappeared to.

"Something's out of place," Sailor Jupiter said. "The trail was not so bad for a while there, and then it picked up again. It was like he calmed down for a minute, and then went bonkers again. Now there's nothing."

Moon looked up at her warrior teammate and nodded, "I was worried for a second that we lost him, but then it got clear again. I guess we're lucky…if chasing a crazy giant tiger can be called lucky. Now we just need to find…" She trailed off as she saw her brunette friend's eyes go wide.

"You were worried that we lost the trail then it got clear again. Now it's a dead end. He's playing with us…he's stalking us!" Jupiter spun in place, her eyes scanning quickly, but her reaction alerted the tiger that she was aware of his tactic.

Springing out from the shrubbery of one of the houses at the intersection, the white tiger cleared the distance in a heartbeat, but it was enough for the two young heroes to dodge out of the way.

His feline instincts were singing as he turned on his pray, ready to play.

**********

Luna and Artemis hid on a rooftop as Sailor Venus led a desperate charge against the horde of enemy creatures. A dozen of the brown imps were commanded by Famine and had been awaiting the arrival of the Senshi. The three Inners had taken stock of the situation quickly, and Mercury had held back, her visor down and scanning as her long haired teammates made the initial assault.

It had shocked the two cats when they saw Sailor Mar's first strike, a fully charged Flame Sniper dissipate against the lead creature leaving only a small scorch as the only indication of damage.

"This is bad," the white furred Mao said to his longtime partner as the two cats watched the fight. "That was Rei's best shot. They may not be able to take them out individually."

Luna frowned, "They are out numbered. All we can do is hope they can stall long enough for the Outers to get here." She paused then continued, "What is Usagi thinking, splitting up the team like this?"

"She won't let a friend go," Artemis countered, "even if she has only known him a moment. If this new Polaris is really in trouble, you don't think she would ever stop trying to help him, do you?"

The blue-black Mao looked down, "No, I guess not. It's her greatest strength. But at times like this it can be her greatest weakness. We need all the power we can muster here to fight these monsters."

Below, Mercury watched as another of Mar's attacks did almost no damage to the creatures. Sailor Venus was doing slightly better, wielding her Love-Me Chain as a whip. The two girls in front of her were being overwhelmed and without hesitation the blue haired girl put away her computer and let out a torrent of water magic.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

The blast impacted another of the creatures and pushed it back a few feet, but did no other damage.

Her eyes darting back and forth over the readout on the inside of her visor, Mercury saw a graph of power usage, a chart of elemental forces, listings of compounds the scanner had detected in the monster's skin, and a small playback of the attack that showed mana dissipation on the creature. Taking all this in an instant the genius of the Senshi formed and discarded a dozen hypotheses. But one fact connected all her findings.

She shouted out, "They are almost immune to elemental magic! Our attacks are useless!"

Sailor Venus yelled back, "It doesn't matter, we have to stop them! The Outers will get here soon, I just know it. Then we can really push these things back."

"Until then," Mars said, "We make due with what we have." She flicked her wrist and a dozen of her specially prepared spirit wards were in her hand. Focusing her mind she charged them with energy and shot forward to engage the monsters at close range. Ducking and weaving through the attackers she left one of the wards on each of the creatures.

Her hands flashed through a series of signs as she began a low chant. Once the mudras were complete she released the coiled spirit energies in the paper slips as well as the prayers contained within. Instantly there was a reaction, jolting each of the creatures and stunning them for a moment.

Quickly the Senshi acted, closing in and using their limited hand to hand skills to get as much damage in as they could on the helpless foes. The moment did not last however, and as the creatures started moving again much to the dismay of the three warrior girls.

As the imps began to move once more the three of them fell back and readied another attack. Before the monsters could charge them an orb of power shot past them and impacted with the lead creature. Moving swiftly the Outer Senshi fell into formation with their teammates.

"What took you so long?" Venus asked with a grunt.

Uranus growled back, "A giant tiger wrecked my car."

"Sure, right, that's likely."

"I'm telling the truth. A giant tiger apparently blew up our living room and then crumpled the front of my car," Uranus said, almost shouting in frustration.

"Take your anger out on the enemy," Sailor Saturn said as she dropped into a combat stance, her weapon pointing at the advancing horde. The creatures approached at a slow pace, but soon began to run, and then the Senshi were among them, and the chaos of battle swallowed them.

**********

Jupiter rolled out of the way as the tiger swiped at her once more. Only her enhanced agility kept her out of reach of the beast's claws, but she knew that she was pulling hard on her reserve energy.

But even though she was slowing, the tiger had yet to make contact with her.

It was playing with them, and the brunette was using this to try and find a way past the animal and to the young man inside.

"Quit it, Ranma," she yelled, "there are lives at stake here and this is no time to be goofing around!"

Sailor Moon was scrambling out of the way of the tiger's next pounce when she called out, "It's like something is blocking out the part of him that would recognize us. We have to get him to calm down," she rolled out of the way as the beast ran by her, "and SIT STILL!"

Sailor Jupiter evaded once more as the fighter in her evaluated her limited options. Spinning on her heel she called on her power and raised the antenna built into her tiara. A charge began to form and she locked eyes on the transformed Polaris.

The beast looked back at her and the fur on the back of its neck rose up as it felt a threat. Reacting quickly it charged, attempting to take down the girl. Jupiter did not resist as the tiger pounced, and let her body go slack as the animal hit letting her magical armor absorb the impact she brought her hands up to the sides of the tiger's head.

She heard her Princess cry out her name, but her focus was not on that. She ignored the pain of the attack and the danger she now found herself in. Instead her sole focus was on the spell building up within her. The smallest waver and she would fail.

"Now," she whispered and released a precise change through her hands.

The pulse of magic lightning went from one hand to the other, but the tiger between them completed the circuit and with a groan the great beast fell to the ground.

Running up, Sailor Moon fell to her knees and checked her friend, "Jupiter! Are you all right?"

Under the weight of the great cat the lightning Senshi answered, "Yeah, I'm ok. I'm glad that worked."

"What did you do?"

Jupiter answered, "I hit him with a low power version of my Supreme Thunder. It's like a stun gun, but I've never tried it before now. Is the big guy all right?"

Moon looked over the animal, with a little hesitation, and nodded, "I think so. He's still breathing at least. Can you move?"

"Yeah," the brunette answered and slid out from underneath the great cat until only its head was resting in her lap. "So what now?"

"Now comes the hard part," Moon said as she began to concentrate. Soon a light shone from her chest as the Silver Crystal removed itself from her broach and floated between her hands. "I'm going to try and open a connection between you and Ranma. You have to try and wake him up."

"Why me?"

The Princess frowned, her eyes closed in concentration, "I can feel them, the threads of magic. His Star Seed and the Chaos are all pulling against each other and if I don't keep them balanced it could rip him apart. It almost feels like what…what Wiseman did to Chibi-Usa…"

Jupiter looked up at this, remembering the turmoil Usagi had gone through when her daughter from the future was taken and transformed. They had gotten the young girl back, but some of the scars on Usagi's heart were still healing even today. Jupiter wondered if she had that kind of strength, and doubt crept into her soul.

Suddenly it was gone as she felt her friend's hand on her own.

She looked up and saw the Princess' smiling face and her heart grew warm again as her leader and friend said four simple words.

"I believe in you."

With that Jupiter opened her mind and her heart to the crystal and in a flash her world went dark.

**********

She walked in the dark, unsure of her direction, but knew that it was the right path. Her boots tapped lightly on the unseen floor, and she knew from the tone of the steps she was walking on wood.

Then there was light, and Makoto looked up to see that she was in an enormous dojo. Scrolls by the hundreds lined the walls showing martial arts stances, techniques and even ideologies. The floor was well worn, but cared for.

She moved further into the dojo, but stopped as she approached the center. Half the room was blocked off by a transparent wall that rippled lightly in the non-existent breeze. Before the liquid like wall stood a statue, and it drew the Senshi's attention.

It was a statue of Ranma, but it was cracked and weighed down in heavy chains. Some of the chains had been pried off she saw, and were piled on the floor around its base. Whoever had gotten them off had done a poor job, however, and there were obvious scars from the broken chain's removal.

Looking around again she saw beyond the water wall was another statue and let out a gasp. It was hard to see through the water, but she could still tell that it was a female figure wearing identical clothes to the male Ranma statue. She also saw that the face was a perfect match for the person she had fallen in love with near the end of her previous life.

She walked towards it, hoping to get a better look, and was about to push through the barrier when a childlike voice called out.

"Don't!"

Jupiter turned and saw a small boy, no more then five or six. He looked like hell, dirty, underfed and beaten, but it was the fear in his eyes that stopped the lightning Senshi.

She asked softly, "Why not? I think my friend is over there, and I'm trying to rescue her."

"The water takes your soul," the boy answers with a whimper. "My daddy said that what's over there makes you weak, and that I'd be better off dead. I don't like my daddy much, but if I don't listen to him he hits me. The last time he even put…that in here."

The last was said in a terrified whisper, and Makoto looked over to the shadowed corner where another statue stood. This third statue was of a group of cats, claws out and teeth showing, clawing into something. The brunette looked closer and saw that the huddled figure in the middle of the arrangement was identical to the beaten boy behind her.

"Daddy said it would make me stronger," the boy said with tears in his eyes as he came in and clutched onto Makoto's leg, "but I just want it to go away."

The girl knelt down so that she could hug the frightened boy. At first he shied away from it, but after a moment he almost melted into the warm embrace. After a moment she looked around again, still holding the boy, and saw something odd up near the ceiling of the room.

Between the two statues on this side of the barrier there was a tendril of water reaching out. At it's end was a clear shape, and it was one she recognized, A Star Seed.

Following the tendril with her eyes Makoto saw that it led back to the water, and beyond it in the closed off half of the room was another shape in the air, another Star Seed. But unlike the one on this half of the room, the Seed was a solid construct not made of water.

She looked deeper into the blocked room and saw a fourth statue hidden from view. Its outline was as female as the other trapped statue, but Makoto was unable to make it out clearly, but she could guess what it was.

Sailor Jupiter was not the smartest of the Senshi, or the wisest, but she understood instinct well. Hers was that of a fighter, and a caregiver, and right now it was guiding her in this strange world. She realized that it was all metaphor and illusion, that everything around her was an aspect of Ranma's life.

She drew on the tale that the boy had told them, sifting through the incredible story to find parallels in this room and began to make a few assumptions. It wasn't enough to guess, however. She needed confirmation.

Taking the boy by the shoulders she gently made him look up at her and spoke softly.

"You're Ranma, right?" The boy nodded and she continued, "And those cats are the Neko-ken you told us about?" There was a long pause, but finally the boy nodded. His eyes were watering, but Makoto pressed on. Pointing at the translucent wall between the two halves of the dojo she stated plainly, "And that's the Jusenkyo curse."

Makoto stood, letting the boy hold her hand as she puzzled out the meaning of the room. Ranma's male aspect was bound in chains, some broken. He was being threatened by the cats that had attacked him during the traumatic training he had undergone so long ago. Behind the wall of Jusenkyo water was Ranma's female aspect, along with the Star Seed and probably the hidden power of Polaris. The Chaos of Jusenkyo was mirroring Ranma's form, but in doing so had somehow taken the Seed.

Looking up at the watery crystal above her she figured that it was the curse's halfhearted way of balancing things out, by creating a doppelganger of the Star Seed and corrupting the cosmic power within.

"Big problem," she muttered. Glancing down at the boy she continued, "deal with the little problems first." Kneeling again she spoke, "I'm going to help you, but we need to work together, all right?"

The boy nodded and she led him over to the statues of cats attacking. As she got closer she saw that the boy in the middle of the tableau was the same as the one holding on to her, and an idea formed in her mind. It was crazy, and probably stupid, but everything here was metaphoric, so why not help in a metaphoric way.

She let go of the suddenly nervous boy's hand and walked into the display, kneeling and wrapping her arms around the boy's statue.

"I will protect you," she said quietly, and was swallowed by the memory.

Instantly there was white pain as cats clawed her back, tearing into her uniform back, but the Senshi refused to move, guarding the boy beneath her with her very life.

Young Ranma cried out, "No! They'll kill you!"

She glanced down and saw the boy moving in her arms, "They won't, as long as you stop them. They are a part of you, if you can stop your fear you can stop them." It was getting hard to talk as the cats circled her, their claws and teeth sinking into flesh.

"Why are you helping me?" the boy whimpered.

Makoto smiled through the pain, "Two reasons. It's a Senshi's duty to help those in need…and I love you."

Ranma's eyes went wide at this, but any response he would have had was drowned out as the girl above him screamed in pain as a large white tiger took the place of the smaller cats. He could almost feel his fear trying harder to get past this new defense, and he didn't know how long the brunette above him could hold out.

"no…No…NO!"

With a shout and a burst of energy, Ranma was past the weakened Senshi and charged headlong at the tiger. Fear clawed at him, literally, as the two engaged in battle. But Ranma could not afford to be afraid. With a deft uppercut he moved in and began breaking down the beast defense.

"I won't let you hurt her," he shouted as preteen hands replaced the child's hands, "I won't let you hurt anyone! I'm tired of losing control to you, of being nothing more then an animal!" A teenage foot connected with the tiger's jaw and sent the great animal reeling. "From now on you'll never get the chance again! You may be my fear, but I'm not going to be afraid of you ever again! This is my mind, and I'm in control here."

Finally, running out of breath, Ranma came to a halt and looked down at the tiger. It was kneeling in submission before him and the young man felt a great deal of satisfaction. But it didn't last as he turned to check on his fallen savior. Makoto was torn up badly, but as he ran to her the wounds began to heal in seconds.

The brunette stood and gave the worried martial artist a big smile and pulled him into a hug.

"I knew you could do it," she said. There was no response and she glanced at Ranma to see he had nervously stiffened at her contact. She let out a chuckle and said, "So you can beat up the big bad kitty cat, but a girl giving you a hug sends you into a panic? Some defender of love and justice you'll be."

"Hey," Ranma countered intelligently as he got out of the hug, but didn't let go of Makoto's hand, "I'll have you know that for me affectionate girls are a hell of a lot more dangerous then some feline."

The two of them laughed and smiled at each other. For Makoto it was like picking up where they had left off, as best of friends who had become closer through overcoming adversity. For Ranma it was like having a dream, and then waking to find that the dream had become real.

They looked around then and saw that the dojo had changed slightly. On the far side of the Jusenkyo barrier Ranma's Star Seed floated closer to the floor, directly between the statue of Ranma's female aspect and the still hidden form. The shadows were receding however, and they could make out the glint of light on metal.

On their side of the water wall the statues of cats attacking the boy Ranma had been replaced. Now there stood a statue of the great white tiger. Between it and the statue of Ranma's male aspect floated the faux Star Seed created by the Chaos of Jusenkyo.

Jupiter turned to Ranma and found that they were eye to eye. She felt herself blush at the lively sparkle in those blue orbs, but still managed to speak.

"Are you going to be alright now?"

"I think so," Ranma said, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. "I feel…I don't know…balanced."

Jupiter nodded, and began to feel a pull.

"I guess it's time to go back to the real world. See you in a second."

"Wait," Ranma said in a rush. "Before you go…"

He stepped forward and cupped her cheeks, now burning in his hands, and leaned in to give her a gentle kiss.

Stepping back again, far too soon in Makoto's opinion, he blushed and stammered out, "I don't know if I'd be able to do that out there yet."

They smiled at each other as the light came up and swallowed them both.

**********

They were in a bad spot and they knew it. The Inner Senshi were not really balanced towards hand to hand combat, and the numbers they faced gave an advantage to their enemy. The only spells that worked against the creatures were Pluto's Dead Scream and Saturn's Silence Wall, and they could not keep up a constant barrage to hold back the attack.

Mars and Uranus had engaged with their skills, but seeing them as a threat the horde had doubled up on them, forcing them to fight defensively. Venus and Neptune did their best, but were quickly being driven back. Saturn had been running on empty for the last few minutes, and was now being guarded by an overwhelmed Mercury. And even Pluto was unable to block all the attacks coming at her.

Seven Senshi against twelve monsters, it normally would be an even fight. But right now the Senshi knew they were holding on by a thread, and Famine had yet to enter the fray.

Suddenly there was a deafening roar and a white comet blazed down into the battle. It sent one monster flying as the brown imp was knocked thirty feet into the air. The other creatures backed off, giving the form room as it turned on the rest of them.

Sailor Moon sat behind Sailor Jupiter, gripping onto the taller girl with eyes squeezed closed from rapid acceleration changes. Jupiter however had a large smirk on her face.

They rode on the back of an armored white tiger, spun copper almost glowing in the pre dawn light. Armor plates covered its forelegs and shoulders, a segmented and reinforced arrangement covered its back, and a light helm sat on its feline head with a circle with a line through the middle engraved into it.

It let out another roar, making the horde fall back a few more feet, and knelt low to the ground. Jupiter slid off, and helped a wobbly Moon to the ground.

"I never want to travel like that again," groaned the blond as she bent over, gripping her knees.

A deep chuckle came from the cat, and much to the surprise of the other Senshi it spoke in a deep, growling male voice, "You wanted to get here fast. Roof hopping is as fast as it gets." The beast then stood again and shifted its shoulders as if popping his neck.

"Now then," the armored tiger continued, turning towards the regrouping creatures, "you can call me Saber Polaris. And in the name of Polaris…I'm gonna bury you."

To be continued…

Endnote: Yeah, yeah, I need to write more then a few paragraphs a day. Sigh. Anyway, I'm going to keep cracking at this and hopefully you'll stay with me. Next time…MORTAL KOMBAT! Until then, (THIS WITTY ENDING HAS BEEN APPROPRIATED BY THE F.C.C. FOR BEING TOO FUNNY).


	13. Particle Evolution

Ranma had to admit he actually liked this new form. Sure he had a slight panic attack when he had woken up, not only from finding out he was a huge cat but also from finding his head in Sailor Jupiter's lap, but that had gone away quickly when his dream had sunk in.

The two girls told him it wasn't really a dream, but he didn't really understand what an 'awakening' was, so he ignored it. All he knew was that he could now think about cats; even be one, without going totally spastic.

Now he was in this new body, and even if it was magic helping him adapt he got used to it in quick order. Muscle groups were different, built onto a larger frame and packing great power. His senses were stronger, and he knew this because he could pick out exactly where Sailor Jupiter was behind him from her scent.

The first new scent he had found when he woke up and he would never forget it.

And the fact that he was running around on four legs now also took a little getting used to. But if a half crazy nympho Amazon girl could do it, so could he.

Walking, actually stalking, forward, Ranma took in the dozen creatures in front of him. He could smell them as well, and it was foul and sickly. Letting out a low growl, something that he really liked now because of the intimidation factor, he shifted his weight and got ready to pounce.

Looking past the horde he saw the sorceress that Jupiter had told him was called Famine. She felt as strong as War did, maybe even stronger. But that didn't matter now.

It was time to show them who the top cat was in this urban jungle.

Ranma leapt into the air and roared out, "Let's go wild!"

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 13

Particle Evolution

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

The Senshi watched in amazement as the giant cat charged the enemy. It was feline grace and raw power combined. As one they turned to see a still unsteady Sailor Moon being supported by Sailor Jupiter, who was watching the hunter attack his pray.

Sailor Saturn finally managed, "Saber Polaris? Is that…?"

"Yup," the brunette said plainly, "Ranma's transformed state…or part of it anyway…I think…"

Venus blinked, "What's that supposed to mean? I thought Polaris was a guy? That looks more like Artemis on steroids with a cosplay fetish." All the Senshi looked over at the blond with odd looks and she blinked, "What?"

"Um…" said Moon hesitantly, "anyway…Long story short is that there was some kind of mental trauma that combined with a weird Chinese curse and it created a second Star Seed."

A clattering was heard and the Senshi saw that Pluto had actually dropped her staff to the ground as her eyes went wide in shock.

"That's not possible," the Time Guardian whispered, "that much power would rip a person apart, or drive them insane. Look what happened to Sailor Cosmos when she absorbed Chaos."

"It's not like that," Jupiter said with confidence. "Jusenkyo didn't really create a Star Seed. It just adapted itself to try and balance the power. Sailor Polaris is still in there, uncorrupted by the curse, but it's anchored to his other half. Saber Polaris is the curse's attempt to interpret the Star Seed."

Mars looked at her friend and asked, "How do you know all that?"

"I saw it. The curse, the Neko-ken, I saw it all."

"Jupiter was the one to awaken Polaris," Sailor Moon said in explanation.

There was a long pause while the Senshi looked on. The armored white tiger was tearing into the enemy ranks with wild abandon allowing the Senshi time to recover. The girls regrouped, each lost in their own thoughts about the new feline addition to their team.

"Should we be, you know, helping him," Venus asked after a while.

"Nah," Jupiter responded, "he's having too much fun."

Meanwhile, Famine watched from under her hood as the giant animal assaulted her ranks. It was an unforeseen event, but even with the slow destruction of her troops she was still confident of her victory. As the tiger swatted another imp aside, sending it into a concrete wall with a loud crack and proceeded to jump onto its next target, forcing it into the ground with savage strength, she raised her golden hand and charged her power.

Bolts of energy lashed out, impaling one of her own, and heading on to the tiger. But the great beast almost seemed to pop upwards at the last second, jumping a dozen feet into the air as the attack impacted the ground where it was standing.

Taking a few steps back, the armored tiger glanced about, evaluating the battlefield. As he did he saw that two of the enemy were charging him, and rearing up on his hind legs he whipped his forepaws out, catching each by the back off the head and smashing them together and slamming them into the ground.

He growled out in a low tone over his shoulder, "Think you girls can handle the last six while I tangle with their boss?"

"How nice," Uranus said as she readied the Space Sword, "Fuzzface is giving us some leftovers."

Jupiter nodded as she slid forward, "He's considerate like that, so let's enjoy."

Quickly the two sailor suited warriors moved to engage the enemy as their comrades recovered. Mars and Venus followed behind them with renewed vigor. Sailor Moon stayed behind and began to get the other girls back on their feet for the now more even fight.

Meanwhile, Saber Polaris' muscular feline form paced back and forth, each pass bringing him closer to Famine. The sorceress stood calmly as the jungle cat approached, but her glowing eyes tracked it's every move.

"You are not what we were expecting," she hissed out from under her hood. "What happened to the girl that War was defeated by?"

"Oh, she's around," the armored white tiger answered. "So where is Tin Grin anyway? I wanted to play with him."

Famine held up her gauntleted arm and let power crackle over its surface, "He paid the price for his failures. Our master would only tolerate so much from him, and since he proved himself weaker then that girl he was destroyed."

That stopped Polaris cold. His growl deepened and he asked softly, "He lost a fight and you people killed him? He fought with skill and honor, and for that he was…What kind of monsters are you?"

"The kind that will destroy you as well, Saber Polaris."

With that Famine flung her arm forward, sending a cascade of energy out at the armored tiger. Polaris skittered sideways out of the way but part of the fusillade scored his armor. With a snarl he ran forward, attempting to get inside the arc of the assault and into hand to hand range where his claws and muscle would be effective.

Beyond him the Senshi were fully engaged in combat with the monsters. The original trio, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury teamed up to take on one creature. The blue haired water Senshi pushed the beast back with her elemental attack, using its raw kinetic energy to distract the imp where magical powers otherwise failed. Mars then moved in and struck quickly with a few well placed kicks and a sprit ward. After that Moon simply proceeded to bash the things head with her magical weapon, knocking it cold.

Jupiter and Venus also struck in unison, the blond lashing out with her chain and the brunette striking with her fists. The flighty former crime fighter and the powerhouse of the Senshi attacked with precision and determination, bringing the creature down in short order.

Neptune and Uranus did what they did best, they worked in harmony. Neptune moved with grace, her normally defensive nature pulling the creature in to be cut down by Uranus' Space Sword.

Pluto and the recovered Saturn were the most devastating. Their powers were not elementally based, but attuned to Time and Death itself. The power they wielded between them was great and devastating, which is why they so seldom used it. But today they unleashed a fraction of their energy at the remaining three creatures.

"Chrono Typhoon!"

The impact of the swirling sphere of energy did not send the creatures flying. Instead it tore them apart, molecule by molecule as time and space distorted around them. It was over in a heartbeat and the Senshi quickly regrouped to see how the newest addition to their team was doing.

Unfortunately even with his new transformation Saber Polaris was finding it extremely difficult to battle Famine. He had strength and speed to spare, but his tiger form was too large and made an easy target for the area effect blasts of lightning and fire that the dark sorceress continually sent his way.

He darted to one side to avoid a blast, and then jumped high to dodge lightning. Landing he flattened himself to the ground as a fireball shot over him and dashed forward to put a mailbox between him and his attacker. The obstacle absorbed one blast, but the armored cat was already moving again.

"You cannot win against me," Famine shouted out over the cacophony of her attacks, "War's power magnifies my own, and that is more then enough to kill you!"

"Better then you have tried," roared back Polaris as he jumped again. This time he let his body flip in mid air and impact against a nearby streetlight. Coiling his legs again he launched himself towards his enemy. Rearing back one forepaw he let his claws slide out, ready to finish this with one strike.

Famine spun to face his new attack, and in her hands appeared the massive sword of War. The wide blade stopped Saber Polaris' attack and in that instant she raided her gold gauntlet once more and released another eldritch spell. The blast instantly arced into the great tiger sending lightning up and down his body as he let out a screaming roar and was blasted away.

Landing in a boneless heap, Polaris shifted under his scorched armor, unable to feel his limbs as his body fought against the spell.

Jupiter ran to where the white tiger had fallen with the other Senshi only seconds behind her.

Pluto called out, "Everyone, get into a defensive formation! Saturn, help Jupiter!" The small girl nodded and came to a halt where the brunette had fallen to her knees, her hands on the side of Saber Polaris' body.

"Ranma," Jupiter whispered, "are you all right?"

The tiger groaned and muttered through pointed teeth, "Damn stupid big fuzzy cat body. I have no idea what I'm doing with it. Can't jump or run for crap. Can't use any of my martial arts. I haven't had any time to get used to it yet."

Saturn blinked and thought about the whirlwind of power the giant cat had shown and asked softly, "You weren't at full power?"

"No, I'm at about quarter strength. Once I get used to this body I'll really be able to cut loose." The big cat worked his way to his feet and stood unsteadily before the two girls. "Too bad we don't have time for that. I'll just have to make due. I can't let her win."

"But if you haven't learned how to use your body yet then you haven't figured out how your powers work in it either," Jupiter said as she stood and rested one gloved hand on top of the tiger's head. "Maybe charging head first isn't a good idea against this enemy."

Saber Polaris growled low, his eyes narrowing as he saw the Senshi stand between him and Famine. The sorceress was calmly regarding the line before her, War's claymore held in a one hand grip while power played over her gauntlet.

"It's just like last time," Mars said, "she's twice as strong, but she's still just toying with us. It's like she doesn't even care."

Pluto nodded, "Hunger rarely cares about what it eats, only that it does eat. War lived for battle, and now this one lives to consume. But there is intelligence behind that hunger, and like a beast it toys with its food."

Sailor Moon shook her head, "How sad. I feel sorry for her. Knowing only that hunger, she must be in pain."

Across the way Famine barked with laughter, "Pity those who are fated to suffer. I chose to forsake humanity. Before the darkness consumed me, I swore I would consume the light itself!"

"She's crazy," Polaris said, "and believe me, I know crazy. This big cat thing isn't going to work until I get some practice in, so…" There was a pulse of light and a sphere surrounded the armored form of Saber Polaris. When the light dissipated Ranma stood tall, his silk shirt and ponytail blowing in the wind of the dissipating magic. "I'd say it's time to do this the old fashioned way."

Jupiter held up her hand, "Hold on there Tiger, I've got an idea. Your male side has one Star Seed, why not try the one your female side has?"

Ranma sighed and shrugged, "What the hell. Hey, Neptune, think you can hit me again with that little water blast?"

Curious to see his redheaded alter ego again, Sailor Neptune nodded and flicked a marble sized Deep Submerge at the boy. The change was instant, and as the redhead girl gathered her belt up around her Jupiter took in the new form for the first time.

Short and cute with elfin features at about Sailor Moon's height, Ranma's girl form was similar to what she remembered of her past life. Jupiter had to hide a small smile at Ranma's bust line, an equal to her own, that made the girl look like a young centerfold.

Ranma nodded in satisfaction and looked up at the now taller brunette, "Ok, let's give this a spin." As she crossed her arms over her chest there was a flash of light and the metal bracelets were once more in place, Ranma touched the two of them together and called out.

"Polaris Star Power…MAKE UP!"

Pale light bathed her form as an explosion of energy fired up from the ground, tearing away her clothing. A skin tight white leotard formed on her body as long gloves and boots wrapped around her limbs. A bolt of power ran through her and metal plates formed on her forearms and shins covering from wrist to elbow and ankle to knee. Another bolt passed and plates appeared at her hips and over her shoulders, protecting the joints. Another bolt and a metal breastplate formed on her upper torso, guarding her chest. A final pulse of power and simple ruby studs were placed on her ears, a white collar formed around her neck, and a circlet formed on her brow with an inlaid blue circle with a line through it. Her eyes opened and the red swept out of her hair, leaving a stark white as she touched back down on the ground, legs in a wide stance, fists at her hips, and a confident smirk on her lips.

**********

Cologne clutched at her staff, unbelieving of what she had just seen.

She was perched on a rooftop not far from the battle having followed Ranma's ki to this area. There was an unbelievable burst of power and the old Matriarch had come running to see a tiger in war gear attacking a group of monsters.

But the tiger was radiating Ranma's distinct ki patterns.

At first she thought that he had unlocked some new level of the dread Neko-Ken, but as the battle progressed she could tell there was deep magic at work here. It was when the battle paused, and the tiger changed into Ranma that her eyes really took in the boy's comrades.

The Sailor Senshi were the stuff of legend, not just in Tokyo but in the mythology of the Amazons. They were known from the beginning of Amazon history as a group of magically enhanced warrior woman from the stars. It was every young Amazon girl's dream to be one of these mystical figures.

And Ranma was now fighting along side them.

Then the boy really sent her for a loop with a quick gender change via the aid of one of the legendary warriors, and a nerve tingling blast of light and power obscured the changed boy from view.

When it ended and the white and copper armored form of Sailor Polaris stood tall and proud the old woman nearly had a coronary and could only gasp out.

"The General!"

Behind her two cats waited in the shadows as the old woman watched the battle.

"I'll keep an eye on her," Artemis whispered to his long time partner. "She seems to recognize Sailor Polaris, we need to know how."

Luna nodded, "I'll let the girls know after the fight."

They separated then, Luna slipping deeper into the shadows to work her way down the fire escape they had climbed up on, while Artemis lowered himself, tail swishing back and forth, to watch this newcomer.

**********

"It really is you," Famine said as Polaris stared her down, "and I thought War was becoming delusional. To think that the last of your race has gone through such interesting changes. What must it be like for you?"

Sailor Polaris wore a frown on her face. The idea that she was the last of her kind did seem to bother her, but now was not the time to think about those things. She reassured herself that she was human, no matter the abilities, and that there were millions of other humans in this city alone, and she had to protect them.

"You had one advantage before," Polaris said calmly, "My size. Now I'm maybe a fifth the size I was before you'll have a harder time hitting me. Not that you were doing that good before."

Famine shifted and replied, "Perhaps, but in changing to a human form you gave up the bestial strength and speed you had. You're weak now, just like the rest of the cattle."

Polaris gave her trademark smirk, "I lost the raw power, sure, but just like War you don't get it. Strength isn't everything. Besides, I just lost several hundred pounds of weight, and that makes me…"

In a blur Polaris was gone and all that was heard was a rush of displaced air before she reappeared directly in front of Famine driving a boot heel into the sorceress' stomach, sending her flying back to land hard on the ground.

"…a lot faster," Polaris finished.

Collectively the rest of the Senshi felt their jaws drop.

"She wasn't that fast back on the Moon," Venus said in amazement.

Jupiter shook her head, her eyes staying glued to the white haired girl, "She wasn't raised by a sadistic, self centered, lazy bastard before. She was this time, and I guess it's made her that much better."

Famine was on her feet again and let loose with a wide barrage of lightning and fire. Blasts rocked the street, but Sailor Polaris danced among them, feet barely touching the ground in a whirlwind of motion as she once more closed in on the cloaked woman.

As she came into range Polaris ducked, dodging a slash of War's blade as Famine clumsily attempted to take her head and was inside the mage's guard delivering a turning kick to her sword hand followed by a hard palm strike to the opposite shoulder and ending with a snap knee kick to the chest and a hard punch to the jaw.

Famine was knocked back again, and roared her outrage as she stood once more. She had dropped War's sword in the melee, but that didn't matter to her now as dark energy gathered in both her hands.

"Die!"

Polaris saw the attack build, but never gave it the chance.

"MOUKO TAKABISHA!"

The ball of energy streaked like a comet and impacted hard against its target. Famine was sent flying a third time and the miasma of evil power she was ready to hurl was sent harmlessly into the air.

Polaris was on her even before she touched the ground, unloading an uppercut that sent the sorceress into the air. Jumping high, Polaris met her again and spun into an ax kick that finished the job, sending Famine crashing into the ground.

Landing lightly, Polaris saw that her opponent wasn't going to rise up again any time soon and took a moment to glance back at the other Senshi. She had expected their looks of amazement, after all she had been amazing people for a while now, but there was something else that threw her off.

They were smiling.

Normally, when Ranma had pulled off an almost impossible feat he was met with amazement but also fear, anger, loathing, and of course jealousy. But these girls were instead happy. They were happy that their new friend had shown great skill, and they were even glad to have her stand with them.

"I could get used to this," the white haired girl said to herself. She then pulled her attention back to her foe, quietly scolding herself for being distracted. But there was no great need for concern as Famine lay still on the ground, gasping for air and attempting to recover from the brutal assault.

Polaris walked over and saw that the mage's hood had fallen back, revealing a female face. It was slightly scarred along the left side, as if it was a poorly healed burn, and the woman's eyes were a softly glowing milk white, and when Polaris got a good look at the face she felt a slight sense of duality again.

She knew that she had never met this person before, at least not in this life. However the same feelings she had when she looked at the Sailor Senshi were also present here, and taking a moment the twice transformed girl let her past self mingle with her current.

When the memories tied to this woman hit her Polaris stumbled back with a gasp.

"I know you!"

The other Senshi were quick to join her, surrounding the downed sorceress and still cautious, but also checking on their new comrade.

Venus asked, "What is it, Polly?"

Sailor Polaris glared lightly at the blond, still hating that nickname, and then looked back down at Famine, "You're Ghost, aren't you? I thought you were dead. I thought we lost you when the magma flooded Verdin City."

"Verdin City," Uranus muttered, "I don't remember that from the Moon."

"It wasn't on the Moon," Jupiter asked, "was it? It's an old Polarian name. She's from your home world."

Famine weakly laughed as the others took this in, "Polaris…a waste. Those people should have been cleansed from the universe. Instead they were sheltered by another dying race. Once the Master is finished you will both be extinct."

Sailor Moon's eyes went wide at the venom in the sorceress' voice, "How can you say such things? What did we ever do to you to make you hate us so much?"

"You exist," Famine answered as she worked her way to her feet. The Senshi backed up save for Polaris, Jupiter and Moon. "The Light is a blemish upon the universe, and the Master will see it put out once and for all. AND DARKNES WILL RULE!"

With her shout Famine drove her gilded hand forward, a black charge forming on its surface as she reached out towards Sailor Polaris for a killing blow. Polaris was still stunned by the revelation of her lost comrade being the enemy and was late in putting up a defense. But before she knew it Sailor Jupiter's tall form was in front of her.

The brunette was right next to her white haired friend when the attack came, and had simply turned inwards, placing her back between the albino and the sorceress. She felt the blaze of dark power as it hit her spine and let out a long scream at it tore through her armor.

Sailor Moon heard this scream and in mid motion transformed into her Eternal Sailor Moon state and released a blast of pure energy at point blank range into Famine. But having delivered her lethal blow, the mage had teleported away, confident that she had taken the life of one of the defenders of love and justice.

"NO!"

Polaris screamed out as Jupiter's eyes rolled back the lightning warrior slumped forward into the smaller girl's arms. Polaris looked down, here eyes filled with terror, and took in the damage to Jupiter's back. The skin was black and burnt, and smoke still curled up from the darkened and torn edges of her uniform.

"No, no, no, not again," she muttered out in growing panic, "Don't die, not like this. Don't die in my arms like this. Please, please, I just found you, don't leave me. Not like Akane…"

An agonized wail echoed over all Juuban, "DON"T DIE!"

To be continued…

Endnote: I am an evil little turd, ain't I? Next time the fallout of the battle rocks Juuban and Nerima, and friend's new and old gather to battle each other. Will Makoto survive? Will Ranma recover? Will Penfold defeat Mad Manuel the Flamenco Assassin? Wait, what? Oh, wrong show…um...Until next time, eat all your vegetables because I sure don't want them.


	14. Particle Decay

Setsuna once more looked into Makoto's bedroom and saw that Ranma still held vigil. It had been over a day since the battle with Famine and the girl had yet to awaken. Ranma, feeling guilty about letting her take a killing blow meant for him, had stayed by her side ever since. Not eating, not sleeping, just sitting there, a look of worry and concentration on his face.

Hotaru had tended to Makoto's physical wounds easily, but the brunette seemed to have fallen into a coma of some kind. It wasn't until Ranma had used his senses deeply on the girl did they know the truth. Makoto's ki had been poisoned, and there was almost nothing they could do about it.

While repairs were made to the Outer's home Setsuna and Hotaru had camped out in Makoto's living room, primarily to keep an eye on the downed Senshi, but also to monitor Ranma.

Having heard the story of Mount Phoenix they knew that right now was a fragile time for Ranma. He had just walked away from the first girl he had admitted he loved and had met a girl that shared a connection of love from another time and place. In both cases his affections had been torn from him, but this time it was before he was even sure about where he stood.

Sighing to herself she started to close the door again when Ranma spoke up, his voice tired and resigned.

"I can't do anything else for her," he said. "I've tried infusing clean ki into her, flushing her system, but it didn't hold. I haven't had enough time studying ki healing to do any more. And there are only two, maybe three people that can help now."

His eyes hardened, "I have to go back to Nerima."

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 14

Particle Decay

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

Shampoo stood before the door to the basement of the Cat Café but no matter how hard she knocked or how many times she called out her Great Grandmother would not open the door. The Elder had returned from hunting down Ranma and had brushed past the warrior girl, sequestering herself in the lower level of the building. Shampoo had not even been able to find out if Cologne had found her wayward husband or not.

Mousse had been, as usual, less then useless. He had even gone so far as to rejoice at Ranma's disappearance and had attempted to once more woo Shampoo. He had also met with typical failure, and a skillet to the head.

Between her own lack of success, Mousse's ineptitude, her Great Grandmother's enigmatic behavior, and Nabiki's suddenly closed lips Shampoo was at her wits end.

The blue haired beauty once more pounded on the basement door with her considerable strength. After a few minutes of this the door whipped open and disheveled Cologne stood there, glaring at her young relative.

The Amazon Matriarch barked out, "What?!"

"You find husband? Where is Ranma?"

"I'm busy," Cologne said with a sigh, "go bother Mousse or something. I'm sure he'd like it."

"But we need to find Ranma now! He break from family, and it chance to finally bring husband home."

Cologne pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, "I'm not so sure that's a path we can take anymore." At Shampoo's confused look she clarified, "I discovered something while I was out. Something that should not be. But if it is it will change everything. Now please be quiet and let me work. We need to know for sure."

With that the old woman slammed the door closed again before Shampoo could protest. Behind the closed door Cologne let out a long sigh and hopped back down the stairs, heading back to the massive pile of scrolls that she had been going over ever since her return to Nerima.

And answer was in them, it just had to be. Somehow she had missed something.

One should not see the rebirth of the progenitor of the Amazon tribe without a little warning.

Right?

**********

"Do you really have to go back," asked Hotaru as Ranma pulled his slippers on at the door.

The boy sighed and looked over at the young girl, "I don't have a choice. Even if I didn't know Jupiter…Makoto at all I'd still go back. She got hurt because of me, and the only way to help her is in Nerima. I know it'll be risky, but I have to do this. I have to find out what she meant to me, and what she may mean to me."

Setsuna walked into the foyer at that moment and picked up her own shoes, "Ami is coming over to help you look after Makoto. I'll be going with Ranma to ensure that he makes it back in one piece."

"No," cut in Ranma, "it's too dangerous. I'm hoping I don't have to, but if I need to talk to the old ghoul then there may be a fight. I don't know how good you are, but I'm betting that she's a little out of your league."

Setsuna smiled lightly, "There is more then one way to fight, Ranma." She stepped back around the corner and suddenly the front door opened revealing her already outside, "Are you coming or not?"

Ranma blinked, and blinked again.

Turning he saw Hotaru giggling into her hands and the young girl gave him a shrug and a lopsided smile. The boy got the impression that Setsuna did this often and hung his head in defeat.

"Fine," he grumbled, "but if I tell you to run, you run like hell. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," the Time Guardian said as she let him pass and closed the door behind him. In moments they were in a simple sedan and were working their way through traffic in Tokyo. Ranma seldom traveled by car, but weaving between other cars he could almost feel the flow of battle even here on the road. To him it was just another form of the Art, and the only thing distracting him from worrying about the downed Sailor Jupiter.

While driving Setsuna took in his silence and knew that he was not entirely with her. She was tempted to let him be with his thoughts, but knew that in the long run it would be detrimental. She took a page from her Princess and decided that the boy would need someone to talk to about the difficult things.

She asked simply, "How are you doing?"

Ranma looked up and spoke softly, "I honestly don't know. A week ago I was just trying to get by. I was dodging rivals and fiancées' and barely holding on to my sanity. Now I've had someone else's life shoved sideways into my head, but it's my own life too, and I'm still trying to hold on. Throw in the fact that there is a girl I've known for only a little bit and for years at the same time that I may or may not…like…and I just don't know. I don't know if I'm a reincarnated girl, a normal guy, or a giant freaking tiger. I need a chance to calm down and work it all out, but as always I don't get one because someone I may or may not have pissed off sometime in the past, or past life, decided that they would try and kill me, and she took the blow. Why did she do that? Why did she let herself get hit?"

Setsuna sighed, "Makoto has had a rough life too. That means that when she finds something good in her life she tries to hold on to it with all her strength and passion. When she found out about you and your past together, she probably didn't want to lose even the possibility of having your love again."

Ranma was silent again after that, letting the weight of that statement sink in. He understood the concept, taking a hit for someone else was the most basic way of defending someone. But the idea that Makoto…Jupiter…whoever she was would be willing to risk herself, even sacrifice herself for him was such an odd idea.

He thought Akane felt that way about him, but that had turned out to be empty, like their relationship.

Ranma understood physical risk all too well, but risk of the heart was still something he had yet to fully grasp.

"She shouldn't have done that," he said conclusively.

Setsuna shook her head slowly at the young man's dilemma. As much as she wanted to help him she knew that it was something he would have to work out for himself.

Sadly, he wouldn't have the time.

Soon enough they entered Nerima, and with only a few directions from Ranma they once more found themselves outside Doctor Tofu's clinic. It was less then a week since Ranma had bounded out to face War for the final time, but the magnitude of events and revelations made it seem like another lifetime, a concept with which Ranma was beginning to dislike.

After parking they made their way into the building, and Ranma stopped cold when he saw who was sitting at the typically unoccupied reception desk.

"Kasumi?"

"Hello Ranma," the young woman smiled as she stood and stepped around the desk. Moving quickly she gathered Ranma into a quick hug and then released him. "How are you doing?"

"Um, fine. What are you doing here?"

Kasumi blushed lightly and said softly, "Ono was kind enough to offer me a place to stay after I moved out of the house. I'm repaying him by helping out at the office."

Ranma blinked, and then smiled deeply at the young woman, "Good for you. But didn't you leave a little fast? It's only been a few days. Mister Tendo wouldn't just let you go like that, would he?"

Kasumi frowned, "Things are bad there, Ranma. Akane and Nabiki are still in shock, and so is your mother." Ranma snorted at this, but Kasumi continued, "Our fathers are obsessed with getting you back. They're trying to figure out where you went so they can get back into Grandfather Happosai's good graces. I was tired of it all, so I left. I'm not even sure they've noticed yet."

"So what is the old letch up to?"

"He's left Nerima," Kasumi answered, "I think he is looking for something as well, just as you are." She saw Setsuna behind the young man and asked, "Or have you found what you were looking for?"

"Maybe," Ranma said, "but I don't know yet. It's part of why I'm here. Is the Doc in?"

Kasumi nodded and led then back into the clinic where they found Doctor Ono Tofu bent over a microscope. Laying her hand on the brown gi of the Doctor Kasumi got his attention.

"Ranma is back."

Tofu took a deep breath at the touch, and his face turned a primal red, but he forced himself to focus and turned in his chair to see the young man and the woman with him.

"It's good to see you Ranma," the Doctor said, "You caused quite a stir this week."

"You have no idea, Doc," Ranma said with a small smile. "I wish I could tell you everything, but that's not what I'm here for." Tofu saw the young man's serious expression and nodded for him to continue. "While I was away I fought someone with pretty nasty powers. She was like that nut I fought here last week, really strong and able to throw special attacks around like confetti. She used some kind of dark life force to poison the ki flow in someone I know and I was hoping that you'd be able to help me figure out how to fix it."

Kasumi lifted her hand off Tofu's shoulder and took a step back, allowing the young doctor a moment to concentrate and take the matter into consideration.

"How deep does the infection reach," Tofu asked simply.

Ranma considered for a moment then answered, "It hasn't reached her heart yet, and it's staying out of her central ki pool for the moment. The problem is she got hit square in the back, and this dark ki is moving along her spine. I've tried everything I know, but I can only seem to slow it.

"No new negative energy is being introduced, right?" At Ranma's nod the doctor continued, "It must be corrupting her own ki as it grows." Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a long sigh he sadly said, "You've probably done all I could do for her then. I know there are ways to stop something like this, but my control isn't good enough to do it."

"The Ghoul and the Letch would though, wouldn't they?"

"More then likely."

"Shit."

**********

Shampoo looked up as the door opened and her mood instantly improved. In the doorway stood Ranma, and she threw herself at him in her customary greeting. But what happened next took her off guard.

With lightning reflexes Ranma caught one of her outstretched arms before she could latch on to him and twisted hard while shifting her momentum. Instantly she was on the ground, arm held painfully behind her as she let out a yelp of surprise. It was then that she felt Ranma's aura, a deep cold that she knew from experience meant that the young man was not fooling around.

"I don't have time for your crap today, Shampoo," Ranma said calmly, "where is the old Ghoul."

"I am here, Ranma No-clan."

Ranma looked up, "So you heard?" He saw Cologne's solemn nod and continued, "I really don't want to hurt anyone, but I need your help. Are we going to have an issue here?"

"Answer me one thing," cologne countered, "Ap'n ti mar'nok?"

Ranma blinked and looked at the old Matriarch in shock. Behind him Setsuna had just walked in and her eyes went wide as well. Ranma stood and released Shampoo who moved away quickly.

"Tal ap'n may'nok shal," Ranma answered slowly, "How the hell do you know that, Granny?"

Behind him the Guardian of Time whispered, "I recognize the words from Polaris, but I don't understand them. What did she say?"

Loud enough for everyone to hear, Ranma answered, "She asked if I was keeping secrets. I answered that I keep my own secrets. I thought that I'd be the only one who knows that language anymore."

"So it is true," Cologne breathed and dropped off her staff, kneeling before Ranma. "Forgive me First One. I never knew it was you. Please forgive the trespasses of my people upon you."

From where she sat on the floor Shampoo gaped, "What going on, Grandmother? Why you call Airen 'First One'? Why he attack me?" She then looked up and saw the green haired mature woman with Ranma and let out a low growl, "Is new fiancé? Is new obstacle?"

Quickly Cologne smacked her descendent on the back of the head with her staff and snarled out, "Quiet, fool. If we do not tread lightly now it will mean the end of our tribe." She turned back to Ranma, "Forgive her, First One. As for how I know those words, they are a language passed down to the Matriarchs of our tribe. Legend says that before we settled in the Jusenkyo valley we were a nomadic people. We were taught how to fight and survive by the First One, a warrior of great power that guided us away from the fall of our lost homeland."

Ranma looked confused, but Setsuna began to see, "Of course, the Exodus."

"The people we sent through the gate?" Setsuna nodded, answering Ranma's question. He continued, "So the Amazons are descended from the refugees of the Silver Millennium. But how do they know Polarian? All of them were on the front line with me…until I sent Amaza back to evacuate through the gate with the last of the Guard."

"According to our legends, Amaza was the first Matriarch and our people named themselves after her later in history. She followed the ways of the First One, who guided her and taught her the ways of a warrior. Even I was unsure of this, until I saw the beast become a man, who became a woman, who became the General that started our way. You are the First One returned to us. The progenitor of our people."

Ranma blinked, and blinked again absorbing this information. For several minutes he looked into empty space as Cologne continued to kneel before him, Shampoo looked up at him in wonder, and Setsuna looked at him with worry.

"Oh you have GOT to be shitting me," Ranma said simply.

Setsuna blinked at the coarse response to the situation, but remembering Ranma's history she realized that his life was filled with such irony.

She said, "It seems that you are responsible for your own woes in this case, Ranma." She had to fight hard to keep the smirk off her face when the young man glared at her. Turning her attention back to the prostrating Matriarch, Setsuna asked, "So what does this mean for Ranma now?"

Cologne shrugged, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Ranma is by rights the ruler of the Amazons."

"Aiya! I married to King of Amazons," Shampoo exclaimed and sprung up to attempt to glomp onto Ranma again.

"KNOCK IT OFF!"

Ranma's shout rocked back the girl, and Shampoo saw that Cologne was also displeased with her at the moment. Considering carefully she realized that this Ranma had no remorse about cutting ties with his family, turning his back on Akane, and would most likely not react the way she had grown accustomed to.

She moved back and sat beside her Great Grandmother, waiting.

Ranma calmed himself and started again, "Putting aside all this bull, I came here for something a lot more important to me then your effing tribe right now. I have someone with ki poisoning, and it's beyond my ability to do anything about it. I really don't want to be in this damn town, but I don't have a choice if I want to save her. I need your help."

Cologne took this in, as well as the no nonsense attitude that Ranma was sowing. It was still the hot headed martial artist she had come to respect over the last year, but there was more. There was a commanding presence in his eyes, and a depth that she had only seen in fighters that had been tested in war.

She knew that Ranma had many battles recently, including the one against the Lord of the Phoenix Tribe, but Ranma's eyes had seen more than that.

He had gone from a husband for Shampoo that would strengthen the family line to a true leader that was from the line of the closest thing that they had to a god. She had to act quickly now, no more putting off the inevitable.

Cautiously, she began, "Ki poisoning is a difficult matter, but I would be glad to aid you in this, on one condition. You must return to China with us now. We can not have someone as important to the tribe as you left in these foreign lands. Now that we know your heritage it is your duty to come home."

"You are some piece of work, Old Ghoul," Ranma growled. "Your willing to trade the life of an innocent for a little bit of pride. I outta rip you…"

He was stopped when Setsuna placed a hand on his shoulder, and the woman spoke softly, but with authority, "I'm afraid you have misinterpreted the situation, as well as your own history. Ranma can not go with you because he is in the service of the Heir of Serenity. Such oaths are immortal and supersede minor claims such as yours. Besides, since you are the descendants of the Royal Guard then your loyalty is to Serenity's heir as well."

"I do not know who you are, little girl, but the laws of the Amazons are all that matter here. I will not…"

Cologne trailed of as Setsuna leveled her gaze at the old Matriarch. It was a gaze that carried with it the Guardian of Time's entire lifespan. From the rise and fall of the Silver Millennium through the march of ages. From the first dynasties of China into the great Roman Empire and beyond. The rise and fall of a hundred civilizations were seen by that gaze, and all of its intensity was focused on one obstinate woman.

Cologne may have been three hundred years old, but Setsuna had almost literally seen it all.

In a low and dangerous voice Setsuna said, "Be silent, child, and know your place. I am Major Domo to the line of the Queen, and you have let your ego grow too large. To say that your so called laws override the oaths of the Royal Guards is treason. I did not think you were so dishonorable from Ranma's description of you."

This time it was Ranma who interrupted, "That's enough. I didn't come here to start a fight." Setsuna nodded once, acknowledging his point and took a step back. The young man continued, "If you really want to pull that Amazon crap with me, then fine. If you'd rather see an innocent die then you can chase your rainbow all you want. I can find the Old Letch, at least knows when to knuckle up and get serious."

With that he turned and marched out of the Cat Café, Setsuna a step behind him.

Cologne stood there, torn between fear of the green haired woman's stare and cold rage at Ranma's words.

"Treason? Dishonorable? How dare that boy," she fumed. "Shampoo, come. This must be dealt with now."

Shampoo looked worriedly at her elders, "What you meant Grandmother?"

"I have allowed myself to be far too lenient with the boy. I let the fact that he entertained me distract me away from the very foundation of our laws. And now those children insinuate that our history is false? It is time that Ranma learn why the Amazons are the strongest fighters in the world."

**********

A block away Ranma turned and punched a wall hard, putting a hole in the cement with a spider web of cracks radiating outward.

"Damn it," he growled, "She's more interested in her tribe's pride then doing the right thing. I should have known better."

Setsuna put a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry, Ranma. You looked up to her as one of your teachers, but you knew that this was a long shot. We just have to hope that we can track down this Happosai."

"Before Makoto dies," Ranma finished. "This is all my fault. If only I'd been faster. If only I hadn't froze up like that. Damn it!" He punched the wall again, further breaking it as he tried to calm himself down.

"It is NOT your fault, soldier," Setsuna said sternly. "Makoto acted to aid a teammate and friend, and there is no greater loyalty then that. Do not cheapen what she did by blaming yourself. Is that clear?"

Ranma took a deep breath and straightened up, turning to face the older Senshi, "Yes, Ma'am." He took a moment to calm himself and then gave the senior Senshi a lopsided grin, "How come whenever I'm being an ass you girls fall back on my training voice from the Moon?"

"Because it works, Setsuna said simply and smiled back at him. "So, what is our next move?"

With another sigh Ranma said, "I guess we have to track down the Perv. Happosai is the only one who could help us now, but finding him is going to be hard if he really did skip town he's going to be a nightmare to track down."

"Perhaps not." At Raman's questioning glance Setsuna continued, "You forget, my old friend, that I am the Guardian of Time. The Gates should be able to find your Master Happosai."

Ranma blinked, "The Gates? Oh, the Time Gate…damn memory. I still don't remember half of what happened on the Moon, and even that's messed up. You go ahead and check it out; I'll head back and try another ki treatment on Makoto. If I can keep slowing it down the freak shouldn't have too much trouble when he gets here. Just make sure you get me before you try and contact him, it'll be bad if you just go in by yourself."

Setsuna nodded and, along with her car, vanished into a temporal knot. As the distortion faded away, Ranma suddenly had a creeping feeling that things were about to go downhill.

Acting on this feeling, Ranma decided that it was time that he too beat a retreat from this district and get back to Makoto as fast as possible.

**********

Genma and Soun walked toward the Tendo compound confident in their newest plan to find Ranma and return him. It had gone from pressing to paramount in the last week when Kasumi had moved out, citing parental incompetence, leaving the chores and cooking undone.

Or at least they wished the cooking was undone.

Akane had dived into the deepest rage either man had ever seen and taken it out on the once pristine kitchen. Now the results were the two of them going out to the lumber yard on a daily basis so the room could be repaired on a daily basis before the next kitchen fire, toxic spill, or radical mutation of tomato soup into a higher life form that had tried to take over the world through the use of oyster crackers and a sub-dimensional meson projector.

They still weren't sure how it had gotten the crackers; they were Genma's favorite after all.

Nabiki had been of little help too. Most of her free time was now taken up by looking after the still broken Nodoka. She talked to the woman, helped her around the house, and made sure she was safe. It was almost as if the middle Tendo girl was focusing on the Saotome matriarch to ignore her own mental anguish.

Now, as they carried more wood and paint they commiserated as to how this was all the fault of one ungrateful heir to their supposed to be unified schools. They had even selectively forgotten their own excommunication from the Anything Goes style.

Suddenly a flash of red shot across the street at a cross road ahead of them, and hope began to return to the two downtrodden men.

"Was that what I think it was Saotome?"

"Quickly Tendo, before he gets away!"

**********

Tatewaki Kuno was once more Lord of this domain. The evil scourge that had plagued Nerima for a year now had been chased away by his skill, power, and dare he say it, way with the fair beauties of the world. Now he chose to grace the lower classes of this ward as he made his way toward his inevitable destiny with the fierce Akane Tendo and the vibrant pigtailed girl.

But a flash of a person moving with quick purpose distracted him from his noble musings on the nubile young women and in a heartbeat his mood soured.

The dark sorcerer had once more dared to enter the presence of the noble Kuno scion! Such a thing would not stand!

Drawing his bokken the brave warrior took chase after the worm, garneting the triumph of justice over this common filth.

I've said it before, I'll say it again…his own little world, folks.

**********

Ukyo was furious, not at Ranma, but at the stupidity of adults. She had gotten word through the grapevine that Ranma had given the Tendos and his folks the finger and had passed that information on to her own father.

The brunette chief had known it was a matter of time before the young man snapped, and realized in no small part she had contributed. She had wanted to make amends of a sort, but had been blocked by her father, and now that Ranma was ronin her old man had been very specific.

There was no chance at reconciliation or face-saving here. This was a matter of family honor, and only blood would pay. The honorless ronin needed to die.

Ukyo had then called her father an asshole and hung up on him.

She'd be damned if she was forced to murder a friend. Now she just needed to find Ranma so that she could warn him about a new idiotic challenger coming for him.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of red on the other side of an alley and she knew it was her lucky day.

"Wait up, Ran-chan!"

**********

The old saying is that a rolling stone gathers no moss.

This was not true in Nerima. Instead the expression was that a rolling stone gathered a rain forest, usually accompanied by a clear-cutter team and a group of protesters with a tribe of locals and a few international oversight committee members thrown in.

The simplified version was: Ranma gathers trouble.

As he made his way to the station he slowly felt a pressure around him. It was a sensation he had grown accustomed to over the years as rivals, fiancées and whack-a-doos of all sorts sought him out.

Sparing a hesitant look over his shoulder, Ranma looked back and saw a growing dust cloud advancing on his position. From its size he figured that it was going to be a lousy day.

And Happosai hadn't even started this one.

"They come here, they all come here," Ranma sighed to himself, and then shot an accusatory glance skyward, "How do they always find me?!"

To be continued…

Endnote: Finally! The weather finally broke around here and the will sapping heat in my apartment has gone away (yippee!). I admit this chapter was pretty much a set up for a Nerima Brawl™, but I felt that Ranma needed to finalize some things there before he could let go of his past. So, let's take a look at the score board…Makoto's life in the balance, Cologne pissed off, Happi missing, and more mixed nuts then a Planters Party Assortment, bulk size. Plus a darkness gathering that wants the Senshi dead. So until next time…Anybody got some space marines or a sayian or two to help a brother out?


	15. Quantum Detonation

In a swirl of displaced seconds Sailor Pluto stepped out on to the mist covered plain of the Gates of Time. Here, outside the bounds of time and space she was able to calm herself for a moment from the hectic pace of the last few days.

She allowed herself that moment, and even in the timelessness of the Gate it still wasn't enough.

Getting back to work she opened her mind to the impossible powers of the Gate and set in motion a search for the perverted grand master of the Anything Goes School. She was not thrilled with their need for Happosai, but she trusted Ranma's judgment. She knew that the boy would brave any terror to help his new friends, especially Makoto.

She let a fragment of her mind drift back to the present on Earth, intending to check in and make sure that the pigtailed boy was back with the downed Senshi. What she saw in the vision that came up was anything but reassuring as a large force gathered around Ranma, intent on doing him harm.

Instantly she scanned a dozen outcomes to this event, each worse then the last as the antagonistic forces of Nerima attempted to vent frustrations, soothe anger, or carry out misguided revenge on Ranma.

The young man was in a poor state of mind right now, and a mass melee was probably the worst thing for him at the moment as the future riot spun out of control. There was no way to stop it, and showing up in uniform to back him up would only make things worse on many fronts.

This called for a subtle approach, but aggressive none the less.

A chainsaw with a silk handle, as it were.

Haruka would do nicely.

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 15

Quantum Detonation

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

"How did I not see this coming?"

Ranma slapped away a punch as he mused on his current predicament. Soun Tendo was attacking him directly, using a smooth punch-kick combo to force the younger martial artist backwards into Genma Saotome's waiting trap.

It was a style the two had developed while slaving under the Master. It used Soun's precision and reach to force people into unfavorable positions against Genma's high speed and brute strength. But it wouldn't work here since Ranma had more precision, speed and strength than both men, as well as a great deal more stamina after countless do or die fights.

Ranma's problem was that he was also dodging the wild swings of a poetry spouting sword wielding lunatic at the same time.

And these three idiots were only the first wave of oncoming death.

"You know," Ranma quipped, "this gets really old really quick. Don't you people have anything better to do?"

Genma growled from behind him, "Shut up, boy! It's because of your foolish actions that we are forced to these extremes. If you had simply done as you were told, none of this would be necessary."

"I disagree," Kuno shouted as he slashed at Ranma's knees. The pigtailed warrior jumped lightly, and then rotated in mid air to avoid another snap kick from Soun. "The foul sorcerer has needed to be dispatched since his arrival in this ward. The noble house of Kuno demands it so."

"Get over yourself, Ferret Face," Ranma shouted as he rolled under a grapple attempt by Genma and dodged to the side as Kuno thrust hard towards his midsection. "Your noble house must be inbred or something! Got a thing for banjos?"

Kuno gave an agonized shout and charged as Ranma run up a nearby wall, flipping over the kendoist and launching forwards into a dive as a Chinese mace flew threw the space he had just occupied.

"Airen be good boy and come with Shampoo now," the newly arrived Amazon ordered as she bounded off the shoulders of a surprised Genma, forcing the big man face first into the ground. Ranma, still in mid-dive, went into a handspring and flipped again. Landing in a three point stance, he sprinted away from the oncoming Amazon, only to be blocked as a gnarled wooden staff imbedded itself in the pavement at his feet, forcing him to abruptly halt his retreat.

Cologne landed lightly on the tip of the staff and glared at the boy, "I have been patient with you, Son-in-law, but the time for these shenanigans is over. Three thousand years of Amazon tradition hangs in the balance, and I will not have your ego get in the way of destiny."

"Bullshit," Ranma said simply and side-slipped out of the way of Soun's elbow strike that would have landed on the back of his head. He then immediately bent in half to avoid a slash from the recovered Kuno that would have taken his head off.

Back flipping out of the way as Genma came in with a hard stomp followed by a knee lift; Ranma took in his opponents and evaluated his chances. Cologne was the most dangerous, but held back for the moment, waiting for him to tire against the fusillade. Genma and Soun had years of experience and uncanny teamwork, as well as every dirty trick in the book at their disposal. Shampoo was breed to be a warrior, pure, simple and deadly. As for Kuno…

Even idiots could get lucky every now and then.

Ranma broke into a run. He needed to get out of the confined space of Nerima's side streets and into an open area where he would have more room to maneuver. It would also help to lessen the property damage when he was forced to let out some of his more destructive techniques.

His evasions were short lived however as a string of explosions went off in the road ahead. Ranma skidded to a halt and covered his face, protecting it from debris, but this left him open as Mousse jumped through the smoke created by the detonations brandishing a pair of Chinese broadswords.

"You think you can entice Shampoo with some old legends?! I can see through all your lies, Cassanova," screamed Mousse as he slashed at Ranma, cutting open his red silk shirt as the young warrior retreated from the assault.

Ranma countered, "You have to be kidding me! I don't want anything to do with the Amazons! You want Shampoo, go ahead!"

"So you cast her aside just like that," Mousse growled. "Is there no end to your evil? Destroying a young maiden's heart like that?!"

Leaping up and back Ranma let out a frustrated cry, "What the hell is in the water in this town?!"

**********

Haruka let out a sigh as she put the kick-stand down on her bike. Pulling off her helmet she looked over to the empty space in the garage where her prized sports car used to sit. It was empty now, and would be for some time. The insurance agent that had come told her quite frankly that the car was a write off, and the agency did not cover damage committed by giant tiger.

No matter how weird this town was.

With a grunt she headed into the house where plastic and ply board greeted her in the living room where the massive hole stood in silent testament to the power of her new teammate. She felt a brief flare of anger, but the look on Ranma's face when she cradled Makoto in her arms put an end to that.

Haruka had felt that before as well, two years ago.

A quick memory of a cathedral, Michiru's pale body, and the smug Witch that had blasted out her Pure Heart Crystal came forth in her mind. She repressed it quickly, however, before she remembered her own fingers closing on the trigger of that extractor to join her love.

She shivered and got back to what she came here for.

Michiru wanted her violin to play and calm herself down, but had forgotten it in the rush of activity after the attack. Since then they had been busy talking to contractors and insurance agents, and could only now spare the time to go back to the house and get the instrument.

Michiru had scolded the sandy blond when she had suggested an alterative way to release tension, and Haruka had chuckled when Michiru had turned it right around and told her that she needed to keep her fingers nimble for that, and the violin was good practice.

"I have got to marry that girl," Haruka smiled as she headed upstairs to retrieve the instrument.

Just as she was about to reach the top of the staircase, a burst of energy released and Setsuna stood before her, a worried look on her face.

"You need to get to Nerima as quickly as you can. Here, take this." Setsuna was to the point and pushed a sheathed sword into Haruka's hands, almost pushing her back down the stairs.

"What the hell?"

Setsuna continued, "Ranma's in trouble with the locals and outnumbered badly. He needs backup."

"Ok then, let's transform and back him up."

"No," the Time Guardian said, "If a bunch of magical girls showed up to fight with him it would only make things worse. You are the only front line fighter without being transformed right now. He'll be along the canal when you get there, now go!"

"But what about…"

"I have to find Happosai and hope he can help Makoto. It's up to you to get to Ranma. Now…GO!"

**********

Ranma jumped high, delivering a kick to Genma's head and using him as a springboard to gain momentum. Twisting in mid air he caught Mousse with a spinning heel kick that knocked the half blind Amazon boy away long enough for him to land and slide forward to deliver a pair of rabbit punches to Kuno.

Shampoo came at him, swinging her maces hard to connect, and Ranma was forced into a back flip as the metal spheres clanged together. The back flip turned into a roll as Soun attempted to hit Ranma while he was inverted and the pigtailed boy almost crashed back into Genma.

"Ah, crap."

Scrambling quickly, Ranma dodged a hard stomp from his father and jumped back to his feet, ready for another round.

What he was not ready for was hundreds of cold steel throwing knives aimed at him as Mousse recovered and started wildly swinging his arms. The blades came by the dozen out of the boy's billowing sleeves, and with Genma, Soun and Kuno blocking any retreat Ranma had no way to avoid them all. He crossed his arms and got ready to take the brunt of the attack.

A staccato of clangs met his ears as he looked up to see long brown hair done up in a low ponytail, and beyond that an oversized metal baker's peal that had faithfully blocked all the implements of death.

"Ukyo?"

"Sorry about the last minute save there, Ranchan," the young chef said over her shoulder. "Trying to keep up with these loonies was not easy."

Ranma blinked, carefully moving a small distance away from his one-time friend, "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to make amends," Ukyo said as she eyed the other combatants. "I screwed up big time, but we'll talk about my faults later. It looks like this bunch is going a little overboard, don't ya think?"

Cologne chided from the back to the group, "This does not concern you, child, or any of these barbarians for that matter. This is an Amazon affair."

"NO!" Genma made his feelings known, "Ranma has obligations he must uphold."

"Yes," added Soun, "now more then ever we need to join the schools."

Kuno also made his case, "For too long you have all let this demon in human skin run free! I will allow his corruption no more!"

"Airen go back to China now," Shampoo put her two yen in.

Mousse let a pair of spiked chains uncoil from his robes, "I actually agree with the delusional swordsman for once. Saotome has gone unpunished for far too long. I will end him today!"

Ukyo looked over her shoulder at Ranma and said in a pleading voice, "Please tell me I'm not as bad as these nuts?"

Ranma could only shrug noncommittally and Ukyo gave off a heavy sigh, "I could have been a normal girl, gotten a nice office job or gone into voice acting or something. But no, my old man had to get a hate on for your old man, strip me of my gender, train me like a nut and sick me on you. I'm gonna need LOTS of therapy after this crap is settled."

"Get in line," Ranma joked as he moved back into a combat stance, "my eyebrow hasn't stopped twitching in the last six months. So, it's two on six then"

Mousse shouted, "Like that will help you!" Another barrage of throwing knives was airborne, but halfway to Ranma and Ukyo they were neatly knocked out of the air by expertly thrown kunai. Ukyo took this opportunity to throw a group of her own projectiles, sharpened throwing spatulas, and drive back the attacking group, giving her and Ranma a little more breathing room.

"Actually it's three on six," Ukyo said simply

There was a small flash of smoke and a shapely form garbed in battered shinobi tangs, with a single flower held in long black hair, was suddenly standing next to Ukyo, with a ninja-to held in delicate hands.

"Kunoichi Konatsu Kenzan, in the service of Lady Ukyo, has arrived."

Ranma blinked and took in the somewhat odd ninja, "Good entrance, as usual man. Sure you want in on this?"

The beautiful young man nodded once, "Where Lady Ukyo leads, I follow. As she feels she owes you a debt, then I will gladly help repay it by aiding you."

"Then you misguided fools share in this cur's fate," Kuno shouted as he charged, meeting to genius kunoichi in a clash of swords as madness driven wood met gracefully wielded steel. This seemed to break the respite that had fallen and the melee was resumed.

"Sorry about this Sugar," Ukyo said as she attempted to deliver the flat of her blade to Shampoo. The Amazon girl blocked with one of her maces and turned inside the young cook's guard.

"You always been obstacle. That end now!"

Bringing her off hand mace around, Shampoo attacked. Quickly Ukyo shifted her grip, levering against Shampoo's great strength and blocking the second mace with the long handle of her battle spatula. Pushed back hard, the brunette let momentum carry her away as she shifted her axe like weapon again, freeing one hand to dart to the bandolier across her chest and retrieve another brace of throwing spatulas.

Close in she knew that she would have trouble with the blue haired girl's power, but at range she had dozens of options open to her. She threw her blades as a distraction and then threw a small bag at the Amazon that exploded into a fireball.

"Flour bombs work every time," she said simply. But as the smoke cleared she saw Shampoo still standing.

The two rivals locked eyes, and in a flash they resumed fighting.

Ranma could only take this in for a second as his ally's started their fights. He could spare no more attention as he was once more set upon by Soun, Genma and Mousse. Once more he began an acrobatic evasion as he vaulted off a spear that Mouse swung at him only to tighten into a ball to evade a jumping attack by Genma.

Landing, Ranma danced around a series of open hand strikes that a focused Soun executed.

Ranma looked for any weakness in his three opponents while keeping an eye on Cologne. The old woman had yet to really enter the fray, and that worried him. He would be worn out fighting these three, and he needed everything he had to battle the Amazon Matriarch if she took this seriously.

From behind he heard the continuing clash of Kuno and Konatsu as they battled. Ranma knew that Konatsu could wipe the floor with the kendoist, but was not going full out right now. The pigtailed martial artist had to smirk at that, the kunoichi suspected, as did Ranma, that this would be a drawn out fight. He probably didn't want to go full out because if the pretty young man used his full power then Kuno would simply be dead.

Ranma had to respect that restraint, even if he was starting to lose his.

**********

A prismatic light show was reflected in Sailor Pluto's eyes as she fell deep into the trance needed to activate the higher powers of the Gates of Time. Scanning the time stream for one person was normally impossible, but with the amount of energy that this Happosai was supposed to have the eldest of the Senshi had hope.

Of the billions of people in the world at this time she could limit it down to thousands. Martial artists, spiritualists, heroes, mages, and other unique individuals all had high energy levels. After that it was only a matter of scanning through them. That act would normally take days, but being pressed for time was never a problem here, where time was bent to the will of the Gates.

Fortunately the Gates were being cooperative today, and Sailor Pluto soon found the man she was looking for.

Accessing the wardrobe she kept here, Setsuna chose a short black cocktail dress with a plunging neckline that would allow her to fit in at her target's location. Putting the dress on, she mentally prepared herself for dealing with the perverted martial arts master, praying that the seriousness of the situation, and the plea from his self declared heir would be enough to convince him to help.

Stepping through a knot of time, Setsuna landed in a shadowed corner of the lawn of a mansion. It was late night here but the party was in full swing as music pumped out of speakers and hundreds of people danced, drank, chatted, and mingled. Moving gracefully through the crowd, Setsuna did let a small portion of her awareness drift over the people.

Happy celebrities in designer clothes were all around her, and a critical eye quickly evaluated every cut, material and stitch on them. After so long the Senshi of Time was not only a clothes horse, but a very good fashion critic, and this was a buffet to her.

It was after she had passed a group of women in extremely well made lingerie that she heard her target's voice and changed direction to intercept him.

"I'm telling you Hef, those extracts are working better for you then they ever did for me."

Another man answered, "Come on, Happi. You still have a few centuries on me."

"That's just my point. I was already going down hill at your age. You seem to be able to metabolize it better then me, especially with its effects on the pretty ladies."

"That's just charm, my friend. Maybe if you didn't come on like a horny water buffalo you'd have better luck with the ladies."

"Ah well. I am what I am."

"DesCartes?"

"Popeye."

Setsuna interrupted, "Excuse me, would you happen to be Master Happosai?"

The little old man turned and saw the exotic green haired, long legged woman that had asked for him by name. Mentally he ran down a list of people he had pissed off, and she was not among them so he gave her a large smile.

"For you Sweetie, I'll be anyone you want."

Setsuna game a small frown, but forged ahead, "I'm here with word from your disciple, Ranma. Someone he is close to has suffered a form of ki poisoning, and you are his last hope of curing her."

Now it was Happi's turn to give a small frown. To his senses she was obviously powerful, but she did not move like a martial artist. Yes, she had been trained to be a warrior but hand to hand was not her primary concern. She was also very beautiful, and if she was associated with Ranma, then…

"Are you a new fiancée he found?"

Setsuna let her smile return at that, "Co-worker, actually. However, the young lady that is injured is of some importance to him, and I as well. I would be very grateful for your help."

Happosai's frown increased, "Cologne wouldn't help?"

"No," Setsuna said simply. "There has been a development with the amazons, and they are now less then willing to help Ranma in any way without very large concessions."

"Like going back to China on the next boat."

"Exactly."

The other gentleman sitting with Happosai joined in, "Seems pretty straight forward, Happi. You've been crowing about this Ranma since you got here. If this girlfriend of his needs help, then you should."

"No argument there, Hef. But the problem with ki poisoning is that the longer it takes to fix it the more damage it does. Even if I were to catch a plane right now there's no way of knowing if I'll be in time."

"If it helps, Ranma has been fighting the infection himself. He says it has slowed down the spread considerably, but he can't reverse it," the Time Guardian clarified. "In addition, I have the means of getting us back to Tokyo faster then a commercial flight."

The old master considered this for a moment. Ki poisoning was a nasty fate, one he would not wish on anyone. And if Ranma was involved it would only escalate, the boy had a knack for making little matters into epic confrontations.

"I walked out too early," Happosai muttered to himself, "Ranma isn't near ready enough for everything out there. But he'd try and take it all on anyway. It's his nature."

"Popeye again," the gentleman asked with a small smile.

Happosai nodded and jumped out of his chair, "All right, Pretty Lady. Let's get this show back on the road!"

**********

Ukyo was being pushed, hard, and there was little she could do about it. Shampoo had always been stronger then her, but that was to be expected from her upbringing. Now the baker girl was using every iota of skill to stay just ahead of the attacking Amazon.

She was just a hair slow and couldn't block the strike that would hit her square in the head.

This would most likely be her last fight.

There was a rush of air and she found herself on the ground, the form of Konatsu between her and Shampoo's weapon. The male kunoichi's sword trembling as he blocked the mace, his toes gripping the pavement, looking for any purchase.

Looking past him, Ukyo saw that Kuno was pinned to a nearby wall by dozens of kunai and shuriken. She then looked back up to see the fierce look in her ninja waitress' face.

"You will not harm Lady Ukyo," Konatsu said simply.

Shampoo was about to reply when she was hit by a thrown projectile the size and mass of Genma Saotome. This was due to the large man being kicked hard in that direction by Ranma.

The young man was in the middle of a jumping spin kick to clear out some space around him and had caught the round martial artist under the chin, sending him reeling into Shampoo and giving him a moment to redirect his attacks on Soun and Mousse. Before he could do more then lure Soun Tendo into a faint Ranma had to jump back to avoid a cluster of Mousse's exploding eggs that detonated hard on the Tendo patriarch as Ranma moved behind him.

"Are you nuts, Mousse" he called over the thunder of the explosions, "you could kill someone!"

"That's what I was planning to do!" Mousse was pulling out a Chinese broadsword and followed Ranma. The two slid down an embankment and came to a halt near the river.

They were soon followed by Konatsu who had leapt high into the air with Ukyo in his arms. The two landed by Ranma and quickly regrouped as Shampoo came over the edge of the embankment after them along with an irate looking Genma.

The male Amazon made ready to charge, shouting out, "Now you can all die!"

He was drowned out suddenly be the whine of a high performance engine as a red blur shot off the bridge behind him and landed without slowing, charging right for him. It quickly resolved into a racing bike of some kind, barreling right at Mousse.

The young warrior turned to face this new arrival, sword held ready, but the bike showed no intention of slowing. At the last second Mousse readied his strike at the bike's rider, but with precision the rider shifted weight and hammered on the front brakes. The front tilted forward as the rear tire lifted off the ground, and with the skill of a pro stunt rider the bike pivoted on its front wheel, smashing its tail into Mousse's head and sending the blind Amazon flying into the river.

The bike landed back on two wheels again and skidded to a stop near Ranma, where the rider dismounted and pulled a sheathed cutlass out of the motorcycle's frame.

The rider pulled off its helmet revealing sandy blond hair and a sarcastic smile.

"Starting a rumble without me? That's just rude, Ranma," Haruka said as she fell in line with her old rival and teammate.

"Friend of yours Ranchan?" Ukyo asked.

"For a few days or a thousand years, take your pick," the pigtailed boy answered as Shampoo and Genma got ready to attack. Behind them Cologne landed and finally got off her staff, her eyes narrowing as she took up a fighting stance of her own.

"Now things are getting interesting," the pigtailed boy said.

To be continued…

Endnote: Behold the formation of TEAM TRANSVESTITE! Next time, Happi faces a hard choice and Ukyo tells her side. In addition we see just how far Cologne is willing to go for three thousand years of Amazon history. Until next time, peace through superior bunny slippers!


	16. Stellar Rebirth

Hotaru sat silently by Makoto's bed, her mood dark as she waited for Setsuna and Ranma to return. It seemed like she was always here, sitting by while people she cared about left one by one. Her father taken by madness, her best friend, Cibi-Usa gone back to the future not to be seen again for a thousand years, and now she watched as Makoto, a pillar of strength and determination lay in bed, sick and dying.

She was on the verge of tears, but a noise from the living room caught her attention.

"Hotaru, I'm back!"

In a flash the girl was through the door and latched on to Setsuna, "Is Ranma all right? Did you find what he was looking for? Where is he?"

Setsuna chuckled and patted the young girl on the head, "I brought someone who can help Makoto. As for Ranma, he is…finishing some business in Nerima. He will be along in a few hours with Haruka. I sent her to pick him up."

An amused voice added, "This little midnight rose can't be Ranma's new girlfriend, can she?"

Hotaru looked past Setsuna and saw that an old man, shorter then she was, was standing in the apartment doorway. She blinked for a moment, and then blurted out, "Oompa Loompa!"

Happosai fell to the ground twitching as Setsuna covered her mouth quickly to suppress a laugh. The old martial arts master got back to his feet with tears in his eyes.

"Why does everybody always call me that?!"

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 16

Stellar Rebirth

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

"Ukyo, you and Konatsu take Shampoo," Ranma said as he evaluated his three remaining foes. "Haruka, take the fat panda. Don't hold back on him, use as much of the old fighting I taught you as you can remember."

"You sure?" the blond racer asked as she drew her cutlass. "That stuff isn't really for going lightly."

Ranma smirked, "That's Genma Saotome, a thief, liar, and the asshole who raised me. He's got more dirty tricks then Setsuna has enigmatic smiles. Give him an inch and he'll put you down hard."

Haruka nodded, but Ukyo piped up, "How come she gets the rat one on one and we have to take the bimbo?"

Not taking his eyes off Cologne, Ranma answered, "You're a better match for Shampoo's strength. You and Konatsu are both more versatile and more agile then Haruka. She's not ready for an Amazon, you are. Haruka has better reflexes, and can spot an opening better, so she's a good match for a trickster like Genma."

Konatsu asked, "And you will fight Elder Cologne?"

"This has been a long time coming," Ranma said simply. "She knows the stakes now, and she'll never let it go until I beat it out of her personally."

"You've never been able to decisively beat me before, Son-in-law," Cologne said from across the battlefield as she shifted her grip on her staff.

"I've never had a good enough reason before," he simply answered.

"And now?"

Ranma smirked, "Live free or die, old bitch."

**********

Happosai looked down at the brown haired girl in bed and frowned; sitting back on the chair he stood on and pulled out his pipe. Across from him the time witch that had brought him here was hovering behind the young girl with mixed light and dark ki. He sensed the girl had used her gifts to heal this Makoto's body, and he could feel Ranma's lingering power blocking back the tide of poisoned ki.

But that was not enough.

He understood why Ranma had sent for him. Only a few grandmasters of the arts would be able to counter the creeping evil in this girl's system. It would have to be either him or Cologne, and according to Setsuna the meeting with the old Matriarch had not gone well.

"So what kind of battle has Ranma stumbled into this time?" Happosai asked as he packed tobacco into his pipe and lit it with a spark of energy.

Setsuna closed her eyes, "I'm afraid I cannot say. Only that the battle is an old one."

The old master let out a long trail of smoke and sighed, "I hate shadow wars. But the three of you are heavy with old magic, and that has never been a good sign. How do I know you aren't just using the boy as a pawn?"

Hotaru stiffened, "I would never betray Sensei like that! After all she did for us, after all she taught me? She was my friend!"

Happosai saw Setsuna flinch at that and smiled, "Sensei? She? Was? I feel that there is more going on then just a simple request from my absent heir. To my knowledge Ranma has yet to start teaching, and still considers himself male. Yet you think of him as a female first, and show a great deal of respect in your defense of him." He hoped up again and passed a hand over Makoto's sweaty forehead, "Add in a powerful elemental seal woven into this girl's spirit and my curiosity is considerable."

"Be that as it may, can you help her?" Setsuna asked simply.

"Perhaps," Happosai answered, "but that depends on who she is. I mean who she really is. Her connection to Ranma, how she got poisoned, everything."

"I can't…"

Hotaru interrupted, "They were close in their last life, maybe even a couple. She was poisoned when she took an enemy attack for Ranma. Please," she locked her teary eyes on Happosai's, "please help my big sister. We both want Sensei to be happy again."

There was a long silence, and Setsuna let her respect for the young Senshi grow. Hotaru had answered some of Happosai's curiosity without endangering their secrets greatly. Anything could be said about reincarnation, and that couldn't tie back to…

"The Silver Millennium, huh," Happosai said offhandedly. "Now this is getting interesting."

**********

Genma jumped high over Haruka's initial attack, but the sandy blond never let the big man out of her sight. Moving with the reflexes demanded of a race driver she spun in place and thrust. Genma leaned to the side, attempting to catch the blade between his arm and his body, opposite hand already going back for a counter, but Haruka flicked her blade downward before the trap closed and slashed at Genma's knees.

The big man was forced to concede ground to the attack, but turned right back onto the attack, moving into a reverse elbow and palm combination that staggered the blond momentarily and left her open for a heartbeat.

**********

"How do you know about that," Setsuna asked, suddenly on guard.

Happosai chuckled, "Cologne wasn't the only one to study the history of the Amazons. I just tried to look past the politics and ego stroking that their historians put in. This girl has a mystic bond to wood and lightning so strong that even I can't help but be impressed. Only a Senshi of old can have this kind of power. For Ranma to have stumbled across the true legends…well, the boy's luck always has been odd that way."

"He didn't," Hotaru said softly, "he was a part of it from the start."

**********

Ukyo and Konatsu separated, forcing Shampoo to track both of them as they moved in to attack. The baker swung her battle spatula in a wide ark forcing the Amazon girl back into a brace of thrown darts from the male kunoichi, but the blue haired girl was just as fast and knocked the blades aside with her maces.

Deeming the ninja the higher threat, Shampoo charged and spun, delivering a snap kick at the black haired head of Konatsu, but the ninja dropped low and tried to take out the warrior girl at the knees. Shampoo jumped high, and prepared to bring her weapons down on Konatsu's head.

Her attack was interrupted by Ukyo as the brunette wound up and swung her spatula in a baseball strike, smacking the girl out of mid-air.

Following Shampoo with her eyes, Ukyo reached back into her jacket and drew a white pouch.

"Now!"

She and Konatsu threw at the same time, and as the flour bomb met Shampoo a pair of kunai struck it, sparking off each other and lighting it instantly, creating a fireball in the sky.

Ukyo smiled lightly until Shampoo came out of the explosion clutching the smoldering handles that once held her maces. Throwing the burnt wood aside, the Amazon charged in, catching Ukyo before the brunette could put up a defense and kicking her hard in the stomach.

Before she could follow up Konatsu was there, ninja-to cutting the wind and bearing down on Shampoo, but the warrior girl slid out of the way, glaring at the male kunoichi.

"You should know," Konatsu said simply, "that Lord Ranma has been the only person to ever really challenge me. Stand down now, before you come to harm." Shampoo seethed, and taking a play from Ranma the ninja added tauntingly, "We both know I'm more woman then you can handle."

"That's it! Now I kill stupid girly-boy! No one more woman that Shampoo!"

**********

Setsuna finally gave in to Happosai's curious stare. "How much do you really know of the Silver Millennium?"

"A bit," the old master confirmed. "A holy queen ruled over a land of great power. At her command was a group of warrior maidens with elemental power granted by magic older than time itself. They were cast out of their paradise and came to Earth where the warrior maidens became the first Amazon tribe."

Setsuna then said, "Close to the truth, but not all of it. The warrior maidens as you would call them were killed at the fall of the Silver Millennium, but the magic that empowered them allowed them to reincarnate in the future. This included a young warrior with a genius for hand to hand combat and a talent for making friends and enemies in the same breath. The refugees that came to Earth were in fact the remnant of the Royal Guard and civilians that were evacuated in time."

"And somewhere along the line the Amazons got a little big for their britches," Happosai concluded. "And you say that Ranma is connected to this story?"

"One of the lost souls came back in this life as Ranma, yes. We finally met in Nerima and when he left he came to us to start rebuilding his life. When he did so he awoke some of his memories of the past much like the rest of us."

"So this girl is connected to him through that."

Hotaru nodded, "They liked each other in the past. They teamed up all the time in the field and they got to be the best of friends."

"And when they found each other again…"

"The connection is still there," Setsuna finished.

Looking down at the girl, Happosai considered what he had learned. That the Amazons had distorted their history was no surprise to him, he'd seen it done by governments most of his life. That there was some truth to the legends did not faze him either. There always seemed to be a hint of the truth hidden in myth.

That Ranma was a reincarnated warrior from a mystical empire with magical girls…

"Wait a second," Happosai paused, "Ranma was one of the warrior maidens?!"

**********

Ranma knew his friends were being pushed hard, but he had to trust them. He couldn't spare an ounce of worry now that he was facing one of the few people in Nerima that were better then him in a fight. Cologne glared at him, her hand gripping her staff tightly as he run a hundred attack plans through his mind and discarded each one.

"I've been too soft on you," the old Matriarch said. "I found myself enjoying your antics, and even training you. I knew that someday you would make an excellent husband for Shampoo, and your daughters would be the strongest the tribe has ever seen. But you have too much will. I had hoped to break you of it, but now we reach an impasse."

Ranma assumed a loose stance and countered, "It never would have worked out. Breaking me would have destroyed the very thing you wanted. It's my willpower that makes me strong. I won't let myself go easy, I won't give in, and I never give up. It's what let me beat Herb. It's what let me overcome Saffron. It's why you're afraid. I'm the so called originator of your tribe, and I don't believe in the crap you call laws. I may not know much, but I know that that's a big political oopsie. One that needs to be taken care of before the rest of your people find out."

Cologne's eyes narrowed at the boy's summation, "You are partly right. I can not let you lead our tribe as you are now. You need to be taught the proper way of thinking, or parish in anonymity without any of the other Elders knowing. But I do not fear you. I always have been, and always will be, better then you."

"That's what Saffron thought," Ranma whispered. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!"

The blast rocketed out from Ranma's hand, but was easily dodged by the old woman who shot forward to counter, but Ranma was already gone. Using the flash of light from his attack as a distraction he ran to the side and kicked hard at where the Old Ghoul would be.

His foot met staff and he was thrown hard away, but in mid air he launched another blast that almost caught the Amazon. She split into nine afterimages and jumped up to attack him before he landed.

Caught in the Splitting Cat Hairs technique Ranma blocked as many strikes as he could, using the Chestnut Fist as a defense. But the Matriarch saw this and countered with her own. Ranma was faster, but Cologne's attacks came in at multiple angles, so they were evenly matched.

Landing and dispelling her illusion, Cologne sprang forward, the tip of her staff aimed at a disabling pressure point, but the pigtailed boy was in motion even before he touched down. Running forward he lightly jumped onto the staff and ran its length, attempting to punt Cologne in the head.

She whipped her staff out from under Ranma and rolled away from the attack and brought it up vertically to block his next strike. Ranma obliged and sent a savage Muay-Thai shin kick into the weapon. The strike shook Cologne hard, reverberating down the shaft and numbing her arms.

The use of the potentially lethal strike showed Cologne two things.

This fight was going to be the most intense fight she had ever seen.

And Ranma was not going to screw around here.

**********

Setsuna watched the old man work. He was now deep in meditation, one tiny hand on Makoto's brow, reading her ki pathways and seeking the damage done to her.

"Ranma did good work," the old man said as he cracked open one eye. "His ki has reinforced her own, acting as a barrier between the corruption and the girl's life-force. But the damage is extensive, and Ranma's block will not hold out for long."

"Can anything be done?" she asked quietly.

It took Happosai a long time to answer, and even then he would not commit.

"I need to consider. There is only one way to heal this kind of damage, and its cost is great. I need to speak with this girl, to find out her truth. Only the can I make a decision."

Hotaru blinked, "But she's in a coma. You can't talk to her."

"There is always more then one way, little one," the old master answered. He sat back and closed his eyes, entering a meditative state. Gathering himself, he began to focus his ki tighter then he had in years, so much so that Setsuna and Hotaru watched with slack jaws as a bright aura built around him

The aura grew, until it touched Makoto, and when it did, both Happosai's and her eyes opened, blank and pupil-less

**********

Makoto sat in her living room, starring wistfully at a picture from long ago. In it she wore a long, elegant emerald gown and held a smaller, silver haired girl in a red gown in her arms. They were looking into each other's eyes as only lovers do, and Makoto could not help but shed a tear at the beautiful memory.

"What is that, child of forest and storm?"

Makoto looked up and as a miniature old man standing before her, his eyes curious and his face concerned. She did not know why, but she felt at ease, and willing to share the memory with the grandfatherly figure.

"This is Juno and Rena. It was their last night together, before the war. Before they died."

"They loved each other?"

"It took them forever to realize it. And when they did, it was only in time to…well they never got to say goodbye. It's so sad."

"But you're smiling, why is that?"

"That was Juno and Rena, and they should have had a long life together. Now there is Makoto and Ranma, and I still feel it in my heart, that thunder we had. I want to help him, to ease his pain and grow together. To hold his hand and see the sunrise of our tomorrow."

"You love him?"

"I believe I do," she said and looked down to see the picture had changed to show Ranma standing back to back with his female side, both wearing their cocky grins.

There was a long silence as the old man looked up at her. Her fingers tracing the image in her hands even as the sky darkened outside.

Finally Happosai spoke, "Then wake up, child of forest and storm. Wake up and find the other half of your soul."

**********

Hotaru gasped as the light receded and saw that Makoto's eyes were still wide, but her green iris had returned.

The young woman panted, as if running a marathon and looked up to see her friends over her.

"Wha…what happened?" she asked hoarsely.

Happosai stirred, closing his own eyes, "I used an ancient and forbidden technique to revive you, my dear. It wouldn't do for Ranma's soul mate to be stuck between life and death forever, now would it?"

"You're Happosai."

"I am," he answered simply and leaned back in his chair. "But don't you have pressing matters to attend to?"

Makoto blinked, but it was Setsuna that answered, "Ranma went to Nerima to attempt to find a cure for you. He was unable to, and has been entangled in a large battle there. Haruka went to aid him, but even that may not be enough."

Makoto frowned, "Why aren't the others with her?"

"It would only escalate things if a group of girls showed up to aid him against fiancées and rivals." Makoto's face fell, but Setsuna continued, "But there is one girl, one warrior that could aid him."

Makoto's face brightened, and she took Setsuna's offered hand and sat up.

She looked back, "Are you coming too, Master Happosai?"

"No, I think I'll stay here with the little one. But please bring my student back, would you?"

Makoto nodded, and she and Setsuna disappeared in a flash of light.

Happosai let out a long, and pain racked sigh, and Hotaru was instantly at his side.

"Are you all right, sir?"

The old man opened his eyes to show that they were still pure white, "No, but that's all right. It's a price to pay to restore the life of an immortal, and see that the lad has that infinite future with her. I am diminished, but it's worth it to see that kind of love again."

**********

As Ranma and Cologne clashed, Haruka was falling back quickly as Genma struck again and again. Only fractions of a second stood between the flat of her blade and the older man's fists and feet.

He was relentless in his attack, but Haruka had two advantages over the superior martial artist. She was armed and her reaction time was as fast as Ranma's. She started getting tunnel vision, fixating on Genma, focusing all her will on defeating someone with years more fighting experience then her.

Genma wasn't even taking the person he thought to be a boy before him seriously, and it cost him. Shallow cuts from the cutlass stung his skin, and a hard ground defense whittled away his maneuverability advantage. He decided not to hold back anymore and charged, intending to end the attack with one blow and move on to take on his wayward son.

Haruka saw the shifting of feet and knew a hard strike was coming. She shifted her stance as well, sword swinging downward and back, opening her defense and awaiting the blow. Genma charged in, his hand held in a Xing-Chiao (Eagle Claw) strike intent on doing considerable damage to the torso of his opponent.

The sandy blond timed her move, and after seeing Ranma fight even Genma seemed to move in slow motion. She whipped her arm up and out, the cutlass in her hand digging into the soft earth at her feet.

The spray of dirt and the sparks from gravel striking the blade only added to the strike and Genma almost missed it as the tip cut into his gi. He managed to skid to a stop in time, but from groin to neck he clothing was split in two. He was startled enough that he was off balance for the follow up shoulder block tackle that put him on the ground.

He would have gotten up then, but the press of cold steel to his throat stopped him.

He looked up and saw flint in Haruka's eyes.

"I've done savage, terrible things in my life," she said with a cold smile. "Killing you would really not add that much." She suddenly shifted her grip, spun the blade, and brought the pommel down hard on the man's forehead, leaving a large purple indent and knocking him out cold.

"Good thing for you I'm a better person now," she added softly.

She looked up from the waste of humanity to find her friend deep in battle.

**********

Speed and stealth were the hallmarks of a ninja, and Konatsu had both in vast quantities. In a stand up, fair fight he would not stand a chance against the brutal strength of Shampoo.

But this was anything but a fair fight.

He stood between Shampoo and Ukyo, his mistress still on the ground attempting to regain her breath from Shampoo's hard strike. Konatsu knew his back was to the wall, but his pride as a kunoichi gave him the strength to complete his task.

Shampoo shot forward, hands blurring as she attempted to batter down the ninja's defense, but Konatsu had already dropped a smoke pellet and disappeared.

"Coward," Shampoo sniffed and turned her full attention on Ukyo. "Now we finish this."

She leaned over Ukyo, ready to deliver a hard chop to the neck. She felt bad that her sometimes ally would have to end like this, but the law was clear and her Great Grandmother's instructions were final. She would mourn the cook later when…

CLANG!

Shampoo was face down on the ground, and in great pain. She slowly rolled over and saw that Ukyo had somehow attacked from behind with her massive weapon. She glanced to where the cook was supposed to be, and saw Konatsu standing, taking off a brown wig.

"How?"

"I am a ninja," Konatsu said simply. "Replacement and disguise techniques are among the first thing I learned as a small girl."

"Boy," Ukyo corrected.

Konatsu blushed and shrugged, hiding his face behind delicate hands.

The cook continued, "Whatever. Anyway…nightly night, Sugar."

And with that the combat spatula came down on Shampoo's head once more.

Hard.

**********

Haruka, Ukyo and Konatsu all knew to stay well back from where Ranma was battling Cologne. It was fierce, and every move they made elevated the conflict. Martial strikes used by masters to break wood and bone were used with wild abandon, and both were drawing on ki reserves to increase speed and strength.

Cologne had dodged all of Ranma's ki blasts, and the young man had been one step ahead in speed, but now the Amazon Matriarch began to draw on hundreds on years of training.

"Now you see the full extent of Amazon power," she shouted, "Fist of the Stone Rhino!"

She struck the ground before her and forced a massive amount of focused ki into the soil. Out of the ground erupted a dark gray form of a rhino that the old woman jumped onto the back of. Unlike her Ice Bear attack she had used so long ago, this construct was animate, and charged Ranma with thundering feet.

"MOUKO TAKABISHA!" The blast impacted the charging stone beast, but did no damage to the armored construct. Ranma dodged wildly out of the way, but before he could recover the creature was turning and heading right at him again, head down, horn aimed at his heart.

He couldn't dive forward to go under the beast, the front legs were too close together. Sideways dodges wound not be far enough in time to avoid an intercept. Retreat was his only option, but the creation was faster then he was.

Breaking into a sprint, Ranma headed for the river, confident that his girl form would have the speed he would need to evade and go on the offensive again. But before he reached the water he felt a chill up his spine and dodged hard again.

"Blizzard Strike!"

Cologne, atop the rhino's back had unleashed a concentrated Soul of Ice blast that froze over the river near the engagement. She chuckled as Ranma gathered himself and glared at her.

"Now now, boy, none of that. The time for me letting you have advantages is long over. If you had done the right thing from the start none of this would have happened."

Ranma growled again, "I did do the right thing, every time. It's you, and every other asshole that's screwed with my life that messed up. I tried to keep everybody's honor intact and all it cost me was my hope, my dreams, and my dignity. Guess what, I'm done trying to save face for a bunch of self serving jerks."

He had a flash of inspiration and came up with a plan to once more level the playing field. Mentally he apologized to Setsuna for playing a trump card like this, but he was in a corner and needed to finish this, once and for all.

"You want power," he shouted, "then get ready for the Perfect Neko-ken!"

Flexing his arms he felt the weight of the Polaris bands on his wrists and brought them together.

"POLARIS BEASTIAL EVELUTION!"

There was a flash of bright light and a roar of power. Ranma could only be defined as a shape in the light, and slowly that shape twisted, enlarged and changed into a large feline form. Armor plates snapped into being with hard metal on metal sounds and with a blue flash the light faded.

It left behind the armored white tiger form of Saber Polaris.

Letting out a roar, he pounced, claws out and glowing faintly as he lashed out at the stone rhino. The impact of the two beasts was great and it took Cologne's great skill to hold on tightly and retain control of her own beast construct.

The animals separated with a few scratches evident on the rhino's stone skin. Ranma began to prowl sideways, his cat eyes narrowed in focused anger as he got ready for another charge. When it came, he was ready to meet in with war cat strength. But before the impact occurred he dodged out of the way of a hard ki blast from Cologne who also wore a mask of concentration.

"Whatever trickery this is may have put you on even footing with my beast, boy," she snarled, "but you are still outnumbered two to one. And none of your little friends can even come close to my power."

The tiger growled low, but knew she was right. The only one here that could match her blast for blast was Sailor Uranus, but revealing Haruka as a Senshi in front of the others here would only cause more problems. He trusted Ukyo and Konatsu with his secrets, but that was not enough.

Suddenly the wind shifted and he had a familiar scent cross his nose, along with a light tingle of electricity in the air.

"Maybe," he growled in answer to the Matriarch. "Maybe not."

He broke into a sprint, barreling towards the bridge that Haruka had jumped her bike off. Cologne turned to give chase, but Ranma stopped before reaching the overpass, skidding and spinning to face her again.

From atop the bridge there was a flash of green light and a crash of thunder. A female form jumped off and high into the air, the sun behind her. She landed lightly on Ranma's back, who reared up and roared as the green eyed, brown haired, sailor suited defender of love and justice settled in behind his shoulders, gripping his armor lightly with one hand.

Pointed at Cologne, Sailor Jupiter bellowed, "Man or woman, beast or god, all life yearns to be free. For forcing a man to chose between slavery and death you have soiled the honor of the Silver Millennium. So, in the name of Jupiter…"

"And Polaris," the big cat beneath her rumbled.

They ended together, "We will punish you!"

To be continued…

Endnote: Sorry about the hold up, I got a little sidetracked. But for now the ninja cat apocalypse is over and the penguin monarchy has been restored to its rightful rule over our world! Next time we see the conclusion of the battle in Nerima and Happosai reveals how he revived Makoto. Until then, ALL HAIL PEN-PEN!!!


	17. Dynamic Forces

"Beautiful," it was all Ukyo and Konatsu could think as they watched the jungle cat that was Ranma and the warrior woman astride him. It was grace and power rolled into one right out of a fantasy novel or high adventure manga.

And now this image of primal beauty and strength stood opposite to the Amazon Matriarch Cologne who rode her own war beast, a stone rhino. The two creatures slowly began to circle each other, one made of flesh and heart the other of ki and anger. Both ready to battle to the bitter end.

Konatsu whispered quietly to his mistress, "This battle has grown beyond us. We should retreat for now."

"No," Ukyo whispered back, "I have to stay, to see this out. I have to warn Ranma about my father. I owe him at least that much."

The tiger that was Ranma roared once more and charged, the green skirted woman riding him gripped on with one hand and let loose a stream of lightning with the other.

Ukyo gulped, "Then again…maybe Ranma won't need my help after all."

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 17

Dynamic Forces

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

Sailor Jupiter saw energy gathering in Cologne's hand and whispered down to her mount, "Ready when you are, Polaris."

She felt a rumble between her bare thighs as the white tiger shifted and growled. That led to a roar as Cologne readied her attack and Saber Polaris broke into a run.

"SUPREME THUNDER!"

Jupiter's attack arced out before Cologne finished her own attack and the old Amazon was forced to will her construct into motion to avoid the lightning barrage. The rhino was not fast enough to avoid Polaris' attack, and claws raked the side of the stone beast leaving large gouges.

The large mystic tiger continued past the rhino and turned sharply, almost spinning in mid stride and striking again with bared claws, digging deeply into the construct's flank. Jupiter held on tight through the maneuver and began charging another attack when the motion calmed. Cologne was not idle during this however and lashed out, hoping to dislodge the girl from her mount.

"Let her have it," Saber Polaris roared as he rammed forward letting the staff into arms reach of the lightning warrior. Jupiter snapped her arm up and caught the wooden staff, focusing her considerable strength to maintain her grip while energy arced around the antenna that had risen from her tiara.

"SUPREME THUNDER!"

The spell surged from her hand into the wood and Cologne barely let go in time as her gnarled walking stick shattered from the massive burst of energy. Even if she had gotten away in time, the elder felt her hand tingle from the power of the attack.

"It seems that you have a few tricks there," she laughed. Then a glint entered her eye and she yelled out," But you're still a hundred years too early to fight me!" She slammed both hands into the stone rhino's back and channeled her ki into the construct. The animal spun to face Polaris and Jupiter and opened its mouth. From within a large rock, the size of a man's head came shooting out like a cannon ball.

Polaris jumped away and to one side, but the high speed projectile still grazed his shoulder. The impact spun the tiger and Jupiter was forced to abandon another attack so that she could keep her grip.

Once they came to a stop she leaned forward and asker her friend quietly, "Are you all right?"

"Just grazed the armor," Polaris reassured. "But we can't take too many of those. We need to finish this."

"And you still don't know how to use all your powers," the brunette astride Polaris sighed. "We need to get creative."

The cat's eyes narrowed and he took a few paces backwards, giving him more room to fight as the larger beast construct gathered itself for another shot. When the ballistic boulder came flying from its mouth again, Polaris was ready. Gathering every ounce of power he could, he forced everything into his legs and jumped high into the air.

The leap was impressive, the arc perfect, and at its apex Jupiter saw that they would come down right on top of Cologne and her mount. But the Amazon saw this too and made to move. The green skirted Senshi reacted quickly to maximize the attack.

"JUPITER…OAK EVOLUTION!"

The shotgun like blast of hundreds of charged seeds bombarded the area Cologne was in, preventing her from moving, and the armored jungle cat dropped from the sky, claws first.

To the side, Ukyo and Konatsu could only stare at the cloud that had been kicked up from the blast and subsequent landing of the savage beast. The girl, and pseudo-girl, could feel their hearts hammering in their chests as the dust began to settle.

Shattered rock littered the ground, and the whiter war cat let loose a roar that shook the air around them as lightning arced off the tiara of his rider.

Beneath the pair, Cologne was held to the ground by a large paw, one of its sharp claws just touching her jugular vain. She dare not move or the beast Ranma had become would end her oh so long life.

"It's over," Saber Polaris said calmly.

Cologne grunted, "You can not defy three thousand years of Amazon law just because…"

"IT'S OVER!"

The tiger's bellow caught the Amazon Elder off guard, and for a moment she wondered if the transformed young man was going to follow through on the implied threat of the claw at her neck.

The beast continued to speak, "In case you haven't noticed, I don't take crap like that from anyone any more. My fath…Saotome I get. He wouldn't give up on his precious retirement for anything, except more money. I even understand all the other idiots around here to a certain level. But you should know better. I've never believed in your laws, they are stupid, and now I see them for what they are. They are a twisted reflection of justice."

He took a breath and continued, "The little problems your people have are nothing compared to what I have to face now. There is a fight coming, bigger then any you can imagine. If you interfere with that it could cost us this whole world. Do you really want that on your shoulders?"

The white tiger leaned his head down and looked the old woman square in the eyes, "If you, or any Amazon, ever attempt to try and 'claim' me, or harm anyone I care about, I will personally come to China and cash in on debts that Saffron and Herb owe me. If you imagine to do me harm then you should also imagine what your village would look like as a smoking crater."

Cologne gasped, "You wouldn't!"

Polaris' claw lightly scraped Cologne's skin, "Do you really want to bet your life on that?" Then the big cat turned and strode away, Sailor Jupiter glancing back at the defeated Matriarch, a ball of energized plasma spinning in her hand, daring the older woman to make a move.

She did not.

The power that Ranma had, not just by himself but with his allies, could easily overwhelm the Amazon people. Cologne held no illusions, Ranma was now far beyond tricks, traps, and bullying. The reprisal would be more costly then any one man, even one as strong as Ranma was worth.

This would take time.

**********

"Very nice, Fuzz-face," Haruka clapped as cat and rider approached. "I guess you're getting the hang of the new form after all."

Sailor Jupiter jumped off her mount and in a flash of light armored tiger was replaced with young man, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"I always did do well in high pressure situations," the young man said with a half smile. "I'm just glad it's over." He turned to face Ukyo and Konatsu and added, "It is, isn't it?"

Ukyo looked at her childhood friend with wide eyes, and for a moment felt fear. She then saw that Ranma's hand was gently held by a long white glove trimmed in green and felt a pang of jealousy, and loss. She took a deep breath and released those emotions; they would no longer serve her and would only alienate someone she still cared about.

"Yes and no," She answered. "I'm not going to make the same mistakes those jackass' did. That's what got us into so much trouble with you." She took a breath and braced herself, "The problem is with my father. I found out you…left your family, and I passed that on to him. I though he would let the whole marriage thing drop with that. He did, after all he's pretty traditional. Instead he just wants me to murder you now."

Ranma's eyes narrowed slightly, as did Sailor Jupiter's and Haruka's. The sandy blond hefted her sword again and shifted to aim the blade towards the young cook, but Konatsu moved between the two.

"Please let her finish, my Lady," the transvestite ninja pleaded with Haruka.

Ranma nodded, "Go on, Ukyo."

The brunette continued," I can not, will not kill the first, only person to really treat me like an equal. Like an idiot I let myself get dragged into the fight for you." She glanced down again and added, "A fight that none of us won. But that doesn't really change that you were my friend. I don't know if you still are or not, but that doesn't matter to me. I will not do this and my father can go to hell even if I…I have…to become ronin just like you."

Haruka took a step back and lowered her blade, eyes darting to Ranma to take in the young man's reaction. Hers were not the only eyes on the martial artist; Konatsu looked on with hope and Sailor Jupiter with concern.

Softly Ranma spoke, "You've always been more then a friend to me. You were like the sister I never had, but always wanted. You were a girl and still strong, and flew in the face of everything Genma ever taught me."

"But what about Akane or Shampoo? They were strong girls too."

Ranma shrugged, "Akane was, at best, a martial arts otaku. She never understood the Art at its core. As for Shampoo…she doesn't understand to meaning of freedom. I don't think any Amazon does. They are slaves to 'tradition' and 'Amazon Law'. There's no real heart there."

Ukyo asked, almost fearfully, "So…what about me?"

Ranma smiled, "You train because you love it. You don't fight because you need to. Like you said, you've screwed up in the past, but I'm willing to try and find my friend again. Are you, U-chan?"

Ukyo wiped tears from her eyes, "Hell yeah, Ran-chan."

They stood smiling at each other for a moment, but the silence was interrupted by a girlish squeal from Konatsu as he jumped up and down in front of Sailor Jupiter, grabbing the stunned Senshi's hands.

"It really is you! You're one of the Beautiful Sailor Senshi, magical warriors of love and justice!"

The lightning Senshi blinked at the ninja's enthusiasm and nodded in confirmation. With another girlish squeal Konatsu began blurting out questions, complementing Jupiter's uniform, asking about her attacks, and admiring her hair and jewelry. Seeing this Haruka gave the Inner Senshi a smile that had meaning.

Better you than me.

**********

It took some time, but they had finally gotten away from Nerima. Ranma had to promise Ukyo an explanation of his involvement with the Senshi in the near future, and sailor Jupiter had to promise Konatsu autographs of all the Senshi, but they had gotten away.

Ranma had taken to the rooftops, deep in thought about the possibility of Ukyo's father gunning for him now. Haruka had gotten back on her bike, giving a wave and a smile to the cook and kunoichi. And Sailor Jupiter had leapt back on to the bridge, met once again with Sailor Pluto, and vanished into thin air.

They had all met up just outside of Nerima, and after Ranma made sure that Konatsu had not followed them, they all rippled out of existence and reappeared in an alleyway near Makoto's apartment.

Sailor Jupiter finally released her transformation, and instantly Ranma spun on one heel to face away from her.

"What?"

Haruka chuckled, "I'm guessing you left in a hurry, Makoto."

The tall brunette looked down and saw that all she had on was a t-shirt and a pair of panties. She 'eeped' and attempted to cover herself, cheeks flushing a bright red. The other Senshi smiled and could tell that Ranma too was reacting to the situation with embarrassment as the tips of his ears were also bright red.

Quickly the young man undid his silk shirt, leaving him in pants and tank top and held it out behind himself. With a mumbled thank you, Makoto took the Chinese shirt and quickly put it on, glaring at Haruka when she caught the older girl leering from a second.

Doing up the last of the wooden ties Makoto spoke, "Ok Ranma, I'm all set."

Turning, Ranma blinked and had to force his blush from resurfacing. The shirt, in his girl form, could easily pass as a short dress. The red silk would come down well past her hips. On Makoto, who had six inches on Ranma's female side, was only just enough to be considered decent.

The two of them stared at one another for a few moments, and finally Ranma managed to stammer out a few words.

"That looks…really nice…on you. Nice legs…Um…It shows that you…have…nice legs…"

Makoto managed to take her eyes off the muscles that the tank top failed to hide and worked out a reply.

"You…look hot…good, I mean good, too. I can really see…tell that you…work out a lot…right."

Haruka was covering her mouth, holding in laughter at the two teen's awkwardness, but Setsuna, who had dropped her own transformation, punched her lightly on the arm and sighed.

"Teenagers, too many hormones and no idea how to handle them," she grumbled. Then spoke out loud, "Now then, we should get upstairs to Makoto's apartment. I'm sure that Ranma would like to thank his Master for helping revive Makoto."

"Yeah right," Ranma agreed as he turned his attention away from the young woman in his shirt, with some difficulty. "By the way, thanks for the backup out there, Haruka. We may not have been able to hold out as long without you."

"No problem Fuzz-face. Now I have to figure out a way to explain to Michiru why the hell it took me so long to get her violin," the blond shrugged and straddled her bike. Giving the group a wave she started the motor, revved it, and pealed out onto the street.

Setsuna led the two teens upstairs after that, and Makoto opened her apartment door to see Hotaru pacing back and forth in the main room, worry etched on her young face

"We're back," she announced, and no sooner had she said it then the girl became a small missile that impacted both her and Ranma, pulling them into a hug with small and emotionally charged arms.

"Worried, Starsprite?" Ranma asked with a smile. "You shouldn't have been. We are just that awesome after all."

"Just glad you're ok," Hotaru said softly. "After all, Mister Happosai seems hurt. I worried that Makoto may not have healed all the way."

"The ol' fart is hurt," Ranma asked. Hotaru nodded, and led Ranma over to the couch while Makoto darted into her bedroom to change. Ranma found Happosai sitting calmly sipping a cup of tea, his eyes closed. "So what's this about you being hurt, Old Letch?"

"Our young lady here is just overreacting to what reviving your immortal friend cost me, that all," the Master said calmly. He then turned in Ranma's direction and opened his eyes to show pure white. "I willingly gave some of my not inconsiderable life force up to purge Makoto of the infection that was attempting to overpower her soul."

"Wait, you mean…"

Happosai nodded, "Yes, it shortened my life, but after so long it doesn't bother me as much as I thought. Oh don't worry, I have more then enough time left to correct a few mistakes. Foremost of which is finishing your training."

"How? I can already beat…the Panda, Cologne, and even you one on one. What do you have left to show me?"

"Three things," Happosai said simply. "But for now I think you'll need some rest. Tangling with that bunch is stressful at the best of times. We'll start tomorrow. For now, Ms. Setsuna has promised me a nice hotel room." With that the old martial artist slid off the couch, put his small cup back on the coffee table, and headed for the door.

"Come along, Hotaru," Setsuna added, "you could use some rest as well."

The younger girl looked down, "But I wanted to stay with Sensei."

"He and Makoto need to work out where they stand," the Time Guardian smiled and held out her hand for the teen.

Ranma blinked, "Huh?"

Setsuna smiled, "You have memories that are trying to integrate into your current life, which is never easy. And in your last life you were close to Makoto, close enough that it still shows slightly in this one. The two of you need to talk, and work out what you mean to each other." As Ranma was about to protest, Setsuna held up a hand, "Do not repeat your mistakes. Communication may not be your best skill, but it is often most important to a relationship, between friends or lovers."

Ranma blushed, but nodded. And as the small group left he silently promised to himself to never make those kinds of mistakes again.

Turning he saw that Makoto had returned, his shirt draped over her arm. She had changed into a simple dark green shirt and a pair of jeans, and even if it was plain, it still looked good on her. He took his shirt back and nodded his thanks.

"So, what now," Makoto asked.

Taking a breath, Ranma answered, "You know all about me from when I told you my story. But I know next to nothing about you. I remember a little about you from…before, but that may not be who you are now."

"You didn't really change," she said, but then added, "Personality wise, that is."

Ranma shrugged, "Maybe, but I still want to know. Who is Kino Makoto?"

The two teens sat down on the couch, and the reborn princess of Jupiter started telling her tale. She left nothing out, just as Ranma had. Even the difficult parts like losing her family, being an outcast in school, and even dying in the battle against Queen Mettallia.

As the story unfolded the hours crept on.

And neither teen noticed that they had been holding hands.

**********

Famine looked down along the blade of her sword. The weapon that had once been wielded by War now shone with her power as she hefted it, eyes locked on its point.

"Soon, Sailor Polaris your race will come to an end to feed my hunger."

"Do not overestimate your power," a girlish voice chirped from the darkness. "She handled you quite nicely the last time you fought."

Famine snarled, "I was unprepared for her sudden changes. That will not happen again."

"That may be, but if you fail again then the Master has decided to unleash Plague upon them," said the happy sounding voice, "and then your soul belongs to me."

Famine swung her sword at the voice, black energy pouring off its edge. But she only cut air as laughter faded into the darkness.

"You know nothing. Revenge will be mine, and so will the power. Do you hear me Death?"

But the childish laughter was gone, and all that was left echoing in Famine's ears were from the voice of a white haired warrior.

"_I know you. You're Ghost, aren't you? I thought you were dead…"_

In the shadows, pale lips smirked and whispered, "Not yet she isn't."

**********

Cologne sat with a bandage around her neck. She had stopped fuming hours ago and had dropped into a fugue. Shampoo had been put into her bed, and was tended to, but Ukyo had not been gentle in knocking her out so it would be some time before she awoke.

But that was not the Matriarch's concern at the moment.

The look in the Ranma-cat's eyes had been cold and hard. They were eyes she had seen before from warriors that had taken a life, and were ready to do so again. She had seen many wars, the most recent being the battle for the peninsula that the Americans had gotten involved in, and it was there she had seen those eyes last.

Ranma was ready to kill her, and then there would be all hell to pay.

Her fury was gone now, and she was berating herself for acting rashly. She could have twisted the situation to her benefit, but that window was closed. Ranma now saw her as an enemy. And with his power, and his allies, she knew that he could carry out his threat and destroy the Amazons utterly.

"Damn me for a fool," the old Matriarch muttered to herself in the dark.

**********

The dawn came, slowly but with the comfort of soft light passing through light clouds. It washed away the darkness of night, chasing away bad dreams and welcoming dreamers to the promise of a new day.

In a small apartment in Juuban a pigtailed young man slept sitting on a soft couch. In his arms slept a pointy tailed young woman. Her arms were around his torso and her cheek was against his heart. His arms were wrapped protectively around her, his nose buried in her chestnut hair.

Their faces had dried tears on them, but small smiles of comfort and relief as well.

The new day would welcome them as well, but not just yet.

For now they slept as friends reunited.

To be continued…

Endnote: awww…Anyway that tackles the first half of this story. There is closure with most of Nerima, and Ukyo and Konatsu may become allies in the fight to come (TEAM TRANSVESTITE…GO!). Happi ain't dead yet and will be a pain in the Senshi's skirt covered asses soon enough, and the enemy is tuning up the band once again. Until next time…I have seen the Light, and it's only forty watts.


	18. Quantum Theory

It had been two days, and Ukyo and Konatsu were visiting Juuban so that they could get their promised explanation from Ranma. They had not expected to meet the redhead in an ice cream parlor and watch as she horked down three sundaes before they got word one out of her.

"Come on Ran-chan," Ukyo finally growled, "Tell us what the hell is going on already. Why the hell do you know a Senshi? How did you do that tiger thing?"

Konatsu added excitedly, "Are you really dating a magical defender of love and justice?" At Ukyo's raised eyebrow the male kunoichi winced, "Just wanted to know, that's all."

Rolling her eyes the cook looked back at her oldest friend, "Well?"

Ranma grinned and started slowly, "It's not all my story to tell, and I need to check with a few people first to tell you everything, but I can tell you a little. First off, do you believe in magic?"

Again Ukyo roller her eyes, "Your tits are bigger then mine and you haven't had any plastic surgery done. What do you think?"

Konatsu covered his mouth to hide a giggle as Ranma winced.

"Right, ok then, dumb question. It all started a long time ago in…and Kami help me I can't believe I'm actually saying this…a magical kingdom on the Moon."

The story that followed was somewhat edited, to keep new identities safe, but that didn't matter. Ukyo and her faithful kunoichi retainer were riveted to the tale.

After the story was complete with its tragic ending of a kingdom falling and lovers killed it was the demure ninja that summed up the feelings of the two.

"Hot damn. You never do things by half, do you Lady Ranma?"

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 18

Quantum Theory

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

Makoto sat with the other Inner Senshi under a tree as they watched Ranma begin his training with the tiny Master of his Art. Usagi and the others had been told what had transpired, and their respect for the young man grew. His fight to free himself from his past was inspiring, and its conclusion was in Minako's words, 'too romantic for words'.

Now they watched as Happosai began his instruction, while Makoto mumbled under her breath, "Come on Ranma, take your shirt off again."

Some of the other Senshi heard this and blushed lightly but focused back on the training duo.

"All right, my boy," Happosai began, "There are three Arts that form the core of my school. Evasion, distraction, and redirection. You're pretty good, I'll give you that, but with these final techniques you will be unstoppable. The first is redirection, and can work on any attack, even ki based ones. The O-Ryu Return. That fool that sired you came close with his Forbidden Arts, but this could even counter those skills."

This made Ranma's eyes twinkle at the thought of turning Ryoga's Shishi-Hokodan right back on its wielder.

"The second is distraction. The Passing Hand. I'm sad to say that this was not originally created by me, but by thieves and assassins hundreds of years before I was born. I only revised it for my Art. It allows you to pass any defense and take an item from a person without their knowledge."

Ranma growled, "So that's how you do it! You use some assassination technique to steal girl's underwear!"

"WHAT!"

The roar of the Senshi frightened even Ranma, but Happosai looked smug.

"Better then what it was originally used for. Besides, I bet your new girlfriend wouldn't mind you practicing on her."

Ranma and Makoto blushed furiously at this, and the young Martial Artist grumbled, "What's the third technique already?"

"The final skill is evasion. Ever wonder how I'm so good at it? How I can go from one place to another in the blink of an eye?"

"I always thought you were just stupidly fast. Are you saying there's more to it?"

"Ki folding can be used for more then the Hidden Weapons style my boy. Think what would happen if you could create a ki fold externally."

Ranma thought for a moment, blinked, and stared wide eyed and slack jawed at the diminutive master, "You mean you can just…what, teleport? That's nuts. But it would explain your stupid Bathhouse-Fu crap. And your ability to constantly be out of the way when someone is about to hit you with something big. If so then why don't you use it all the time then?"

"Because it's the strongest and hardest of the three skills," Happosai said, his milky eyes glinting. "One can not simply pop around like a deranged rabbit on methamphetamines all the time without a price. This technique takes massive amounts of energy and willpower. You must be able to focus on where you are, where you want to go, and what you are doing all at the same time. If you get distracted then you don't fold the ki right and nothing happens."

"No wonder women always seem to be able to pound on you when you're groping them," Ranma smirked.

Rei growled, "He GROPES people!? What the hell kind of Martial Arts is this?"

Ranma retorted casually, "The kind that saved your butt against Famine. Sure, he's a letch and a perv, but he knows his stuff. So please let me get on with this already." Turning back to Happosai he continued, "Where do we start?"

"With the basics, my boy," the old master chuckled. "Redirection. The O-Ryu Return will need a level of ki control a step above what you can do so far. You must be able to let go of emotion in a fight and let your body flow along the ki pathways that can open up to you. This is not only about turning an opponent's power back on them, but their intent as well."

**********

Michiru watched with the nervousness of a mother as Hotaru did something she had not done in a long time, exorcize. It went from fretting that the young girl was pushing too hard to nearly panicking when she took up a purloined broom handle and began trying to remember half dreamed kata for her glaive.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to let her do this?" she asked her lover quietly. They stood on the porch of their house, still under repair, as Hotaru began moving around the back yard. They had come to the home to let the youngest Senshi practice while the contractor was away for the weekend, and the aqua haired Senshi was regretting it as Hotaru worked out, a look of determination on her face.

Haruka sighed, "Polaris and I never really got along great back on the Moon, but I respected her. Ranma is just as overbearing and reckless, but I've seen what he had to go through with those…people. He has that respect as well. We may have made a mistake treating Hotaru like glass, and Ranma said as much. It may be time to let our little girl grow up a little."

Michiru blinked and looked up at the sandy blond, "When did you become so mature?"

"I had a good role mode," Haruka answered and wrapped her arm around her girlfriend. She added, waggling her eyebrows, "Besides I thought you liked it when I was mature."

The Senshi of Neptune gave her a wicked grin and suddenly pulled her inside.

Back in the yard Hotaru gave a sigh of exasperation, "They'll never grow up."

With that she resumed her training and tried very hard not to think about what her Mama and Papa were up to now.

**********

It was a date, a real date.

Sort of.

Ranma was uncomfortable for many reasons, the first being that he was currently a she. Makoto had rifled through the female clothing she had brought on her exodus from Nerima and shook her head in disappointment.

"I know that look," Ranma had sighed, "I do not want to go shopping. I don't want a bunch of girly clothes."

Makoto smirked, "Do I look 'girly' at the moment to you?"

Ranma looked up and down Makoto and blushed. She wore blue jeans, which in the redhead's unvoiced opinion should be registered as a deadly weapon for making a butt look that good, and a t-shirt with failed to hide the brunette's bust.

"I refuse to answer on the grounds that I may be called a pervert and get punched in the face," Ranma deadpanned.

Makoto sighed, "Not all girls are like that…gorilla…you were stuck with. Most of us are a little perverted ourselves. And we don't mind being appreciated by people we're interested in. We just don't like being pawed at or drooled over like that little gnome you have for a master."

"Akane never saw the difference."

Makoto smiled and put a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Which is something we'll have to correct. But right now I need to ask you," and at this she pulled out Ranma's only plain white bra, "who fitted you for this?"

Ranma's face turned as red as her hair and she mumbled out, "Got it from a donation bin."

Makoto figured she was using up her allotment of sighs rather quickly.

Makoto then turned it around by promising to take the other girl out for lunch, and Ranma had reluctantly agreed. When Makoto had taken her hand on the walk downtown, Ranma was worried. He didn't want people to think she or Makoto were perverts. But the taller girl had laughed off Ranma's concern.

"People can think whatever the hell they want," Makoto said. "I'm with my friend, and that's all that matters to me."

Again Ranma was amazed at the difference between Makoto and her friends and the people in Nerima. She knew in her mind that the Moon Princess and her court were warm and accepting, but that was in her last life. Now she saw that Usagi and the others were just as welcoming.

On top of that the people here were less judgmental of what they saw. Maybe it was the more metropolitan nature of Juuban, or maybe Nerima held more conservative views. Ranma was not good at reading people outside of battle so it was hard for her to say.

She did know that, as a male and a female, she was starting to feel comfortable with Makoto. Far more comfortable then she had ever felt with Akane. The redhead didn't know if it was love, but she wasn't going to run away from it.

That thought held up until they arrived at a woman's undergarment store and the redhead had a momentary panic attack.

**********

"Yeah, yeah, you were right. Stop rubbing it in," Ranma grumbled over her hamburger as Makoto chuckled into her soda.

The redhead admitted, even if it was in her own head, that the new underwear made a difference. Her back, which had always hurt a little in her girl form, was now pain free. And loathe as she was to even consider it, it was due to the properly adjusted bra she now wore. The panties were snug, not tight, and didn't chafe like her boxers sometimes did.

It actually felt good to be a girl at the moment.

Distracting herself from this Ranma asked, "So what do you do for fun around here. Besides forcing me into new and exciting lingerie?"

Makoto laughed, and Ranma liked the sound.

"It depends, really. I like walking in the municipal gardens, or going dancing, or hanging out with the other girls. I go boy watching with Minako sometimes, although I do less of that now." She gave a wink at Ranma, but the redhead missed its meaning. "In the winter I like ice skating. I thought about taking up roller skating, but I'm told it's a little different. How about you?"

"I've had…experience with ice skating, and plants don't seem to like me much. They're always trying to eat me or something. I've never really been able to sit still for long enough to pick up any hobbies. All I seem to know is the Art."

Makoto looked over at her sullen friend and made a decision. Taking the redhead's hand she leaned forward over the small table they shared and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

Leaning back she held on to Ranma's hand and looked into her wide eyes, "You know who you are, you're learning who you were. There is no reason you can't take a little time to figure out who you'd like to be in the future. And I'll be there to help. We're partners after all."

"And partners watch out for each other," Ranma said with a small smile.

The moment was broken when Makoto's watch started beeping.

The brunette growled, "Always when I'm right in the middle of something." She tapped the side of the watch, flipping it open to show a small screen and whispered in, "Yeah, what is it?"

Sailor Mars appeared on the tiny screen and answered quickly, "Famine is back. Usagi and Minako are holding her off. Ami and I are on the way. Any idea where Ranma is?"

"Some," Makoto said simply as she felt Ranma's hand squeeze her own lightly. "We're on our way."

**********

Sailor Venus hauled back on her chain of energy links that held one of Famine's minions captive as Sailor Moon brained the creature repeatedly with her magical artifact, using it more as a cudgel then a focus. Once more the creatures were resistant to magic so the duo had taken to beating the tar out of one at a time the old fashioned way.

It was taking to long though, and chaos grew around them as the fight wore on.

The arrival of Mercury and Mars helped, and the four of them were able to get the remaining civilians out of harms way. Now it was a fight of attrition, and they were on the losing side.

"Jupiter Crystal Power…MAKE UP!"

"Polaris Star Power…MAKE UP!"

Sailor Moon grumbled, "About time they showed up."

The powerhouse of the Inner Senshi and her long lost partner barreled into the fight. Lightning crackled around Sailor Jupiter as she physically threw herself into a group of enemy minions, punching and kicking as hard as she could. Sailor Polaris shot past her, her metallic armor shining on her white bodysuit as she spun in mid air, delivering a powerful roundhouse kick that instantly put one of the creatures out of the fight.

Polaris was still learning about her new powers, and even if the instinct was there thanks to the transformation she still had taken some time to talk to the other Senshi, to see if they remembered how she fought in the past. The strength, speed and endurance boost that came with the armor was one thing, but her powers were supposed to be gravity based, and not available on command like the other Senshi's spells and attacks.

Grabbing one of the imps, Polaris paused her mad dance of destruction and let the energy that had multiplied with her transformation flow. She could feel its weight, and more. She could almost feel how hard the ground wanted to keep hold of the struggling creature.

She convinced the ground to let go.

With a heave she chucked the imp skyward and to her amazement, and the amazement of the other Senshi and attacking imps the monster kept going…and going…and going.

Then it came down.

The impact shook the street, and as the dust cleared they saw the creature was buried with only its feet sticking up into the air, twitching occasionally.

Sailor Venus asked quietly, "Did Polly just launch that thing into orbit?"

Mercury shook her head, "Seven hundred and fifty two meters, actually. I guess she's trying to get a handle on her mass powers again."

Polaris was looking down at her hands, feeling the ki and strange magic dance within them. She tilted her head back and let out a long, evil sounding laugh that would have made Kodachi jealous if she was within earshot and then shouted out.

"OH YEAH BABY! SAILOR POLARIS IS BACK IN BUSNESS!"

She stopped laughing, and looked back down at the other imps, her confident smirk back in place as she appraised the nearest one.

She took a step forward and calmly said, "Boo."

The creature screamed and darted away. Its cohorts were slightly more stalwart and stood their ground, but were now wary of this fighter's seemingly incredible strength.

The albino haired Senshi glanced over her shoulder at her team and smiled, "What do you say, Boss? Rumble on the little buggers?"

Sailor Moon, unused to being on this side of a rout, took a moment to collect herself as the other Senshi also regrouped. Confidence was high, and so was the morale of her team. It was a nice change from the desperate battles of the past.

She said simply, "Let's finish them quick. It would be nice to keep the property damage to a minimum for a change."

"I don't think you'll have it that easy," said a voice from above. Famine descended into view, in her gauntleted hand the imp that had run away was struggling against the iron grip of the sorceress. Suddenly it screamed and began shaking as wisps of energy passed from it into the golden hand of the hooded magic user. With one final weak cry the creature stopped struggling and seemed to shrink inwards.

Famine dropped the finally creature, now nothing more then a dry husk, and it turned to dust even before it hit the ground.

"Such is the price of failure and cowardice. Soon you too shall sate my hunger."

Polaris frowned and locked eyes with her floating foe, "Why, Ghost? Why all this destruction? You were a guardian of our home, a champion of justice. You followed a code just like I did. How could you turn against all we stood for?"

Famine laughed, "Ghost died, you fool. And when I awoke I realized that all we had done was slow the inevitable. But my Master showed me a new path. He gave me my hunger." Famine, voice lowered and she crossed her arms, almost caressing her body. "This hunger that fills me, that consumes me. For every time I feed the hunger grows, and I feel greater pleasure each time. When I finally feed on you it will be euphoria beyond any I've felt before. When I extinguish your flame I will finally know the joy of genocide!"

The Senshi all looked a little green at Famine's declaration, but Polaris felt rage. Her aura was visible as ki gathered around her. The white haired warrior jumped into the air, charging her magic into a massive blow. But Famine drew War's massive sword and blocked the attack. At the impact a shockwave blasted out, and that signaled the combatants below to restart their fight.

The five Senshi moved as a team, Sailor Moon dodging frantically and luring creatures in, Sailor Mercury and Venus containing them with chains and ice and Sailor Mars stunning them with her mystic abilities for Sailor Jupiter to finish off with fists and feet.

They had never planned a battle, never talked about tactics, in truth they did not even know they were doing it. But by experience alone the Senshi had become very good at their jobs.

Above them Polaris had been in mid air for over a minute now, learning the grove of her abilities on the fly. Instant adaptation had always been her strong suit, and now she used it well as she rained blow after blow on Famine. But the sorceress was not off guard this time, and deflected the attacks with blade or magical barrier.

The armored Senshi was relentless however. Even in the stalemate in the sky the tactical computer that was her mind was already working on a new plan. She would see this perversion of an old friend and comrade fall.

"Who did this to you?" she growled. "Who turned you into this monster?"

Famine laughed as she lashed out with a bolt of energy that Polaris dodged out of the way of with a nimble spin that brought a kick around to be blocked by a golden gauntlet.

"You are the monster, Sailor Polaris. You are a god amongst mortals and you use your power to slow the inevitable crawl into destruction. You are nothing more then a hindrance to the true destiny of all life!"

Polaris' eyes narrowed as she ducked under her foe, getting a new angle of attack and only barely dodged another energy bolt. She stayed in constant motion beneath her foe, her flying becoming more stable as the battle raged.

Below them the other Senshi fought against the horde of creatures. They were slowly winning, and the tide turned more in their favor when Famine began raining down blasts in her attempt to kill Polaris high in the sky.

Sailor Mercury was the first to realize, "She's tricking Famine into picking off her own troops. The imps don't seem to be immune to whatever magic she uses and she's so focused on killing Sailor Polaris she doesn't even know she's giving us cover fire."

From beside her Venus added, "This is the chance we need, let's finish them off quick and help Polly."

With that the Senshi renewed their attack. The last of the imps was kicked hard by Sailor Jupiter and sent headlong into charged spirit wards from Mars. They were ganged up on and dispatched easily and the group once more turned their attention skyward.

"If Sailor Polaris can give us an opening we can hit that witch with a combined assault," Mars said carefully as they gathered under the melee.

Mercury nodded, "The trouble is letting her know."

Sailor Moon ran forward a few paces and began jumping up and down, waving her arms wildly. Once she had gotten Polaris' attention she pantomimed an explosion and running around in circles.

The other Senshi watched with a bit of embarrassment as their leader carried on, but it was Sailor Jupiter who pointed out, "Trust Moon to do the easiest thing possible that we all overlook. Simple and to the point."

Mars cracked, "I'm surprised she didn't just yell our plan up to Polaris."

Venus chuckled, "Whatever works, works. Looks like Polly is up to something. We should get set up so we're ready."

Above, Polaris had seen Moon gesticulating and figured that the Senshi were setting up to bring out some kind of big spell. The trick would be keeping Famine too occupied to dodge it. Polaris knew from experience that the bigger an attack was the easier it was to dodge.

Time to do two things she could do well. Experiment, and taunt mercilessly.

"It must be a pain to know that you're getting you ass kicked, again. At least I could count on Ghost to put up a good fight, even in training. You really aren't Ghost after all; you can't keep up with me at all."

A bolt of eldritch power shot past Polaris' head and she knew that she was being effective. Quickly she increased her speed, changing her personal gravity on the whims of the wind and falling in random directions, even up. She stopped attacking all together to dart around Famine like a mad fly and continued to throw barbs at the hooded sorceress.

"What is it with evildoers and stupid amounts of lightning anyway? I mean, sure it's really pretty and all that, but you haven't hit me yet. You have a Star Wars thing or something? Out here to get your Sith on?" The warrior girl flipped in mid air, dropping sideways to avoid another close call.

She continued, "I can keep this up all day." Glancing down she added, "But your time is up now. Bye-bye."

"SAILOR PLANET ATTACK!"

The prismatic sphere of raw energy blasted skyward, intercepting Famine as she saw that she had been stalled. She managed to get her gilded arm up and release a bolt of her own power, but it only disrupted a tiny portion of the combined attack of the Inner Senshi.

Polaris flipped away and landed behind the gathered Senshi. She looked up, her white pony tail blowing in the wind caused by the explosion of energy.

"I WILL NOT YIELD!"

Famine raged against the magic, pouring more dark energy in. The reaction of positive and negative energy escalated until no more could be contained and the powers erupted in a massive explosion.

The Senshi breathed a sigh of relief as the clang of a falling sword echoed along the empty street. Famine lay smoldering on the ground and the young warriors rushed over. Polaris was wary after the last attempt on her life, but she saw that Famines gauntlet had fallen away as well.

Cautious, she kneeled and asked quietly, "Why did it come to this, Ghost?"

"His arrogance," whispered the dying sorceress. "When we fell, he revived us. He knew what was happening. He started it all…the death of Polaris…"

Famine closed her eyes for the last time.

Sailor Polaris faded away, white filling in red as her armor was replaced by Chinese silk. Ranma looked up at the other Senshi and asked quietly, "What is going on?"

To be continued…

Endnote: Next time we delve into the mystery of these attackers as the Senshi put together pieces of their, and Polaris' past. Until then…Goodbye Captain Phil, clear skies and calm waters. We'll miss you.


End file.
